She Stole From Me!
by Jenn222
Summary: "What do you know about Meg Wood?" "Pretty girl, nice bum. Why?" Fred asked."Because I'm going to kill her." James' fork stabbed down into his eggs, a loud clang echoing through the hall. - James is the greatest prankster since his uncles' time and so far 6th year is perfect, that is until Meg Wood has the audacity to steal the map from him. 2nd gen. JSP/OC (T for a couple swears)
1. James Potter and the Sneaking Slytherin

**My first 2nd Generation fic. Hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer - I don't own HP. **

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><p><em>Chapter 1: James Potter and the Sneaking Slytherin<em>

The Slytherin Common room was silent. Multiple people were strewn across couches, chairs, the floor and a few even rested on tables. The standard aftermath of any wild party. This particular party had been a huge 'welcome back' bash for second years and above. Light breathing and a few snores were the only sounds in the room. Everyone slept peacefully, small smiles on their faces and it was rather ple-

BAM!

"Where is he!" A single girl awoke to witness James Potter in all his angry glory. He was yelling repeatedly, hair more wild than normal and his arm waving his wand around in random, crazy motions. The girl moaned and put a hand to her head. She stood slowly and shushed the loud boy. He stopped his crazy wand waving and screeching for a moment. His mouth open in preperation to start yelling again. The girl sighed and moved quickly over to him.

"Bloody hell, would ya' pipe down?" She half-whispered at him, her hand holding her head.

"I need to fi-" James' voice was still much too loud and people were tossing about in their sleep.

"Shush. Merlin, are you trying to wake everyone up? If you do I won't stop any of them from murdering you. I'll even supply them with pitchforks and torches." James' angry face was no more, a smile twitched at his lips instead. He was always a sucker for a good joke. The girl seemed rather disgruntled to have been awoken so abruptly. Her dark brown curls were mussed and her hand was firmly holding her head.

"Alright, Sorry. As I was say-" She cut him off again, not for his loudness this time. Her eyes had fallen upon his red and gold striped scarf, hanging loosely around his neck.

"You're a Gryffindor." James sighed and pushed a hand through his hair. He had things to do and people he was searching for. He didn't have time to spare.

"Yeah, I am." He answered, earning a grin and nod from the girl.

"No wonder I didn't see you at the party last night!" Slytherins and Gryffindors were notorious for their on going house dispute. Slytherin had disputes with most of the houses, but Gryffindor was their main target for competition. A few Ravenclaws and Hufflepuff had even been invited to the party.

"Yeah anyw-" James was quick to start again, but was interrupted almost immediately. The girl had started snapping her fingers.

"I know you, James Potter right?" James nodded in annoyance. He just wanted to get one bloody sentence out and this girl wouldn't let him. Merlin's sake!

"Yes. Now as I was saying I'm looking for my brother. He came to the party last night and-"

"Really, how'd he get in?" She looked at him entirely intrigued.

"He's friends with Malfoy. Have you seen Al?" Her eyes squinted in thought and she rubbed her head.

"What's he look like?" James felt like groaning and kicking something, but thought that might not be the best of ideas. He really didn't want to wake any of the other Slytherins, he liked keeping himself completely intact.

"Like me, but not as handsome or tall and he's got green eyes." The girl stared at him blankly. "He looks like Harry Potter!" James' voice rose in frustration causing the girl to wince.

"He was with Scorpius Malfoy? What year are they, third?"

"Forth." James watched the girl think for a couple of seconds.

"Oh yeah. I remember now. I saw Albus with-" She muttered a few names under her breath before her eyes lit up and her fingers snapped once more. "Mindie. Mindie Burke, from Ravenclaw. They left together!"

"Would they have gone to the Ravenclaw dormitories?" She snorted loudly.

"No way. Boys can't go up to the girls' dormitories. The girls' usually go back to the boys'." James frowned in frustration.

"I already checked his dormitory, his bed was empty."

"Well, then there is only one place they could be." James eyes lit up, perhaps this girl would actually be helpful. A surprise as, how often were Slytherins helpful? James scoffed to himself and answered simply; never. Slytherins were never helpful.

"Where?" He awaited the answer with excitement.

"Surely you know where one night stands go?" The girl smirked. James shook his head slowly. "James Potter doesn't know about one night stands, imagine that."

"That's not what I said!" James huffed defensively. "I always bring the girl back to my room." He defended himself with a scowl on his face. The girl remained unperturbed.

"What about your roommates?"

"There are curtains around the bed." James shrugged. The girl's nose wrinkled in absolute disgust.

"There are only three places a girl will bring a guy for a one night stand. First the Room of Requirements-"

"Okay then." James began to stride from the green and silver Common Room. The girl chased after him and grabbed ahold of his arm, she yanked him back a step. She pulled with a strength that surprised James and caused him to fall a step back.

"They aren't there. Few people know where it is and the room fills first because you can have a huge bed." James sighed.

"Where then?"

"The second place is the Astronomy tower, rather cold and uncomfortable if you ask me. Though I heard they have blanke-" This time James cut her off.

"Third place?"

"Broom closets." The girl shrugged at the simple answer. James groaned loudly and found the urge to stamp one of his feet.

"There are fifty broom closets in this wing of the castle alone! It'll take hours to search them all." Just as he had suspected a Slytherin wasn't helpful at all. The girl rolled her eyes at his dramatics and grinned.

"Lucky for you, I happen to know that Mindie is the Astronomy tower slag." James sighed in relief, glad to get an almost straight answer, he thanked the only slightly helpful Slytherin girl. After all no Slytherin is fully helpful and she had just proved that. He heard footsteps behind him and glanced back to see her following him. She swung her arms back and forth slightly, a purse in her arm swinging into her leg with a clatter.

"Where do you think you're going?" James inquired with a glare her way. She stepped beside him and answered.

"I'm not gonna miss Mindie and Albus' faces when you wake them!" James walked faster the girl keeping up with him. Her hand would rub her forehead every so often. She did for about the forth time, calling James' attention to her. He glanced over to asses her. Her hair was dark brown and curly, it was tossed around in a hazard mess, much like James' own hair. Her skin was tanned and she stood tall. Not as tall as James, but fairly close. She wore a tight black dress that looked brilliant on her. She also wore silver flats and carried a silver bag.

He watched her thin fingers reach into her small clutch and pull a vial of black liquid out. She downed it quickly, pursing her very pink lips in disgust.

"What's that?" James couldn't help but ask.

"Hangover Drought. Dead useful." James nodded and caught a smile growing on his lips. He was familiar himself with the horrid taste, but wonderful and immediate effects of Hangover Drought.

"You carry Hangover Drought with you?" James found the idea funny, always carrying a potion around. It felt overly prepared to him. The girl shook her head at his words though.

"Only when I go to a party." She winked at James.

The two walked quickly down the halls. James wanted to get to Al before he woke up and had the chance to move.

Not many people passed them in the hallways. It was seven on a Saturday morning after the first week of school and most people were still sleeping and the fair few awake were in the Great Hall dishing themselves breakfast. The two sixth year students were fairly silent the whole way up to the Astronomy Tower, something James was grateful for, but surprised by. The girl had been so chatty earlier. She skipped beside him now, James sent her a questioning look, but it was ignored. James noted that she was only a small bit more hyper than she'd been before drinking her hangover drought.

"How were you so chipper when hung over?"

The girl shrugged her response. "I've been told that I'm chipper all the time."

The pair took the last turn in the stairs leading to their destination. They were finally at the top of the astronomy tower. In front of them lay two students covered with a blanket. The girl's head rested on the boy's chest and they slept peacefully. A pile of clothes was strewn in the corner.

"Oi Al, Wake up!" James bellowed into his brother's ear. Al sat straight up causing Mindie to rise as well, the blanket clutched tightly over her chest. Al glanced at James in bleary eyed confusion.

"I need the map." James said it simply and expectantly. A scowl fell on Al's face.

"Al what's going on?" Mindie was stunned. "Margaret what are you doing here?"

The girl grinned and stared at James waiting and not bothering to answer Mindie's question.

"Up Al." James went to pull Al up, but both him and Mindie clutched at the blanket tighter. Mindie stared wide eyed at James, horrified.

"Give 'em some privacy to get dressed, then yell at your brother." The girl grabbed James arm and towed him down to the first curve in the staircase. They stood and waited. Mindie passed by in a hurry, mostly dressed with a curt 'Goodbye' in their direction. Moments later Al stamped down the stairs to James.

"I need the map." James repeated himself from earlier. Al scowled.

"You interrupted for the map? Honestly, you have the worst timing ever. I was sleeping and plus you already have the cloak so-" James interrupted Al swiftly.

"Fred and I need both." Al opened his mouth to argue again, but before he could another voice spoke.

"What's so special about this map and cloak?" Both Potters turned and stared at her in shock. They'd both been so caught up in their argument they had forgotten her. A problem they tended to have a lot. Both of them often forgot others were around and could hear them and were most likely listening in purposefully when they were arguing. And James and Al had the tendency to argue quite a bit.

"Who's this?" Al demanded. James glanced at the girl and opened his mouth to answer. He realized then that he didn't have an answer for Al, his mouth snapped shut.

"You really don't know my name?" The girl raised her eyebrows and shook her head at James. "Meg Wood." She introduced herself to both boys.

"Right, well not to sound rude, but why are you here?" Al prodded.

"Without me your dumb brother wouldn't have found you and probably would've been put in the Hospital Wing for waking a few rather angry, rather hungover Slytherins." James chuckled at that, realizing she was probably correct. He stopped abruptly remembering that she, herself was a Slytherin.

"Great." Al stated sarcastically. "Thanks for helping him meddle, as if he wasn't good enough at it himself." Al snapped the last part at James with a glare.

"I still want to know about this map." Meg spoke. James groaned and scowled this time.

"Of course you do. Bloody Slytherin." The girl was unperturbed and waited for James to continue. "It's a Potter secret. Now give it to me Al." James held out his hand impatiently. Al shoved a piece of parchment into James hands and stalked off. James tucked the parchment into his inside pocket in his robes. Meg scrutinized his movements.

"Thanks for the wake up call and entertainment this morning." Meg grinned and pulled James in for an awkward hug. It was quick and James barely moved. Meg was unaffected by this and skipped off, humming a sweet tune. Her hand was digging around in her purse, causing her skip to look rather odd. What an odd girl.

James himself nearly began skipping at the prospect of what he and Fred could do now that they had the map. He'd already forgotten the annoying, weird, albeit fit Slytherin girl. (He wasn't blind and could most definitely tell when a girl was attractive. Thank you very much)

Fred Weasley II was one of James many cousins, he also was James' pranking partner. Fred had inherited the flaming red Weasley hair, however he wasn't nearly as pale as his cousins'. Fred's skin was an olive tan, his mother's naturally dark skin had helped save him from the pale, freckling skin of most redheads. Fred's blue eyes were often glinting in humour and a huge smile could almost always be found on his face.

James went straight to the Great Hall knowing Fred would be there with wide eyes and a face stuffed with food. Upon his entrance, James saw Fred exactly how he knew he would, a grin showing through even as he chewed. James scootched in across from Fred and started serving himself eggs.

"Did you get the map back from Al?" Fred whispered across the table to his friend.

"Course." James rolled his eyes and reached into his pocket. His fingers grasped and searched, only meeting air and robe material. The map wasn't there. He searched his other pockets hurriedly, though he was positive he put the map in his inside pocket. James found nothing. He thought back to Meg hugging him and her hand in her purse. It dawned suddenly upon him just what had happened to the map. That sneaking Slytherin had taken it and he had to get it back.

"What do you know about Meg Wood?" James was seething.

"Pretty girl, nice bum and Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team. Why?" Fred stared at James with worry.

"Because I'm going to kill her." James fork stabbed down into his eggs, a loud clang echoing through the hall.

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><p><strong>1st chapter done. Leave a review letting me know what you think please!<strong>

**Thanks- Jenn**


	2. The Beginnings Of A Short War

**2nd Chapter, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer - I don't own HP. **

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><p><em>Chapter 2: The Beginning Of A Short War<em>

James knew that he couldn't go bursting into the Slytherin Common Room twice in one day. It had been rather lucky that Meg had been the only one awoken earlier, as most Slytherins wouldn't have thought twice before hexing James Potter. He knew he wouldn't be so lucky to avoid a hexing this time. Meaning he'd have to wait for her.

All through breakfast he glared at the doors, she never entered. He checked the library, the grounds, the quidditch pitch and even a couple of classrooms near the dungeons. In his searching he walked through a ghost, ran into five people (two of which were unhappy Prefects), and surprised a teacher. He'd lost Gryffindor five points, earned himself a detention for later that night, and there was still no sign of Meg with the Marauders Map.

James knew that Meg wouldn't be able to use the map. No one could use the Marauders Map unless they uttered the words "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Upon doing so the map would reveal itself, unfurling in black drawings and showing the names of people in the castle as they walked around. James' own grandfather had helped create the map, the grandfather he had been named after. Of course when he'd discovered his grandfather's past, he instantly knew that he needed to carry on the name's legacy and Fred being named for who he was, gladly agreed to those plans. Both boys caused their mothers a great amount of stress and their fathers a good laugh.

James walked back to lunch and threw himself into his seat at the bench. He'd sat so he could see both the door to the Great Hall and the Slytherin table. James sat grumpily with his head in one hand and his whole body slouched down. The doors opened and it only took James eleven seconds to realize who had just walked through. Meg's hair was no longer a mess, its curls had been arranged perfectly and her clothes were no longer wrinkled. She was laughing at something one of her friends had said. How dare she.

James had sat up pin straight when he'd seen her and began to rise completely. He ignored Fred's questioning calls as he stalked over to her. She and her friends had taken seats for lunch by the time he'd reached them. Meg's back was to him and all he could see were dark, dark curls. His hand reached forward and grabbed her arm.

"We need to talk." His voice was clear and demanding. Meg's friends had their wands pointed at him in less then a second. Meg calmly turned to face him. She'd obviously been expecting him, as she wasn't at all surprised to see him and she didn't even spare a glance at his hand on her arm.

"Oh, hey Potter!" She smiled sweetly. James scowled and yanked on her arm again.

"Come on." He grunted out. Meg was about to say something, but was beat by the blonde girl beside her. The blonde had her wand pointed straight into James chest, successfully hiding it from the teachers.

"Let her go." Her voice came out in a hiss. The three other girls glared and held their wands out too, barely visible to anyone not in the immediate vicinity.

"Girls it's fine." Meg waved her hand at her friends and stood. "Potter just wants a little chat. I'll be back in a mo." The girls slowly pocketed their wands, but kept up firm glares in James' direction until he'd left the Great Hall.

James pulled Meg sideways, further from the Great Hall for more privacy. Meg simply smiled at him and waited for him to speak first.

"I know you took it. Give it back to me!" He held out his hand impatiently, similar to how he had this morning with Al. However, unlike with Al, Meg didn't hand it back to him. She simply cocked her head to the side in a thoughtful manner and then spoke.

"No." Her answer was simple and anything but rude. It still managed to anger James a great deal.

"It's not yours!" He said it incredulously, sounding a bit like a five year old. "I'll tell a professor." Meg snorted.

"No you won't. You don't want people to find out about this is my guess. What would you say to them; she stole my blank piece of parchment and won't give it back?" She cocked an eyebrow at him in satisfaction. James groaned, knowing she was right. He hated Slytherins, they were all conniving, evil blighters.

"Please, as you said it's a blank piece of parchment. You can't use it." She grinned at him then. This had been the part of the conversation she'd been waiting for.

"You tell me about it, let me see how it works and I solemnly swear to give it back." James almost laughed at her word choice. Of course she was too close to figuring out what the map was. He scoffed at her in his frustration.

"No deal." He deadpanned. Meg shrugged.

"Fine. I'll keep it then." She turned to walk back into the Great Hall. James surged forward and grabbed her arm for the third time.

"I need it." He pleaded.

"I told you my terms." Meg winked at him and strutted back into the Great Hall. Her ever polite attitude was grating on James' nerves a lot worse then if she had been downright rude to him instead. He wanted nothing more then for her stupid friendly smile to disappear.

"Revelio doesn't work on it!" He called after her in a last desperate attempt. She didn't turn around. James cursed and ran his hand through his hair, something he did when he felt incredibly stressed. He realized that there wasn't much he could do at the moment in order to get the map back. He'd tried all he could think of, which was rather pathetic. He hoped that perhaps talking to Fred would help. James reentered the Great Hall and returned to his seat. Fred glanced up at him in question.

"Wood took the map." James mumbled incoherently.

"What?" Fred waited for James to repeat himself. Something James was very much dreading. He didn't like admitting that he messed up and losing the Marauders Map was bigger than just messing up.

"Wood. She took the map." James repeated himself a bit louder.

"What!" Fred reiterated in absolute anger and shock.

"Yeah, she hugged me this morning and took it straight from my pocket." James was rather sour at his admission and Fred groaned.

"James! Just because a bird is pretty-" James interrupted before Fred could finish his sentence.

"I didn't know she was going to hug me! She did it out of the blue and... I should've known something was up." James groaned the last part.

"Well we've gotta get it back!"

"You think I don't know that!" James blew a loud breath out through his mouth, attempting to calm himself down. "I told her to give it back and she wouldn't."

"This means war. " Fred turned to glare at the group of Slytherin sixth year girls, they all glared back. Except Meg, she merely grinned and sent the boys a wink.

"Definitely war." James agreed angrily.

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><p><strong>Please review?<strong>

**Thanks- Jenn**


	3. The Resolution Of The Not War

**Thank you to Sock-O-Holic and Curiouser-and-Curioser101 for alerting/favoriting!**

**K: Thanks for the review! Updates will be pretty frequent because I've already written most of this story and planned it out.**

**Disclaimer - I don't own HP.**

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><p>Chapter 3: The Resolution of the Not War<p>

Fred and James had been brainstorming ideas on how to get the Marauders Map back, but so far each idea was... well stupid. Both boys found themselves frustrated at this, Fred suggested they go out to the Black Lake as fresh air often helped spring good ideas. The boys were headed there when they ran into the exact girl they were scheming about, Meg Wood.

Meg was headed the opposite way as them and she was alone. The three almost collided. Fred and James whipped out their wands, pointing them at Meg, she was unaffected by their threat.

"Give us the map back!" Fred spoke. Meg cocked her head and answered slowly.

"Yeah, okay." The boys grinned at each other and started to lower their wands, until she continued her sentence. "Show me how it works and I'll be glad to give it back to you." Both boys frowned at her and shook their heads in disagreement. She shrugged then as they pointed their wands at her. She reached into her pockets and pulled out her wand and the map. They tensed awaiting flying spells. She pointed her wand at the map.

"I know you said this wouldn't work, but..." she tapped her wand on the parchment and said "Specialis Revelio." Both boys beamed, knowing exactly what would happen. The parchment was no longer blank, black letters curled in neat script across the page.

"Mr. Moony extends a kind welcome to Ms. Margaret Wood and suggests she leaves him alone." The parchment had written out, Meg smiles and taps the parchment again.

"Show me the map." No map appears, but more words do. They appeared under the previous sentence.

"Mr. Padfoot would like to say that Margaret Wood should keep her pretty nose out of other people's business.

Mr. Prongs agrees with Mr. Padfoot's sentiments and adds that Slytherins are awful, no-good, arrogant arses.

Mr. Wormtail bids Ms. Wood a good day and advises her to keep her annoying mouth shut in the future."

Both boys grinned in satisfaction, waiting for Meg to yell in indignation and angrily throw the map back at them. Instead she let out a joyous laugh.

"Oh, how clever. It's charmed to insult whomever tries to reveal it incorrectly?" Mag inquired with another laugh. James was fuming and he turned to Fred expecting him to be just as angry. However, Fred was grinning and sniggering.

"You know if you hadn't stolen that from us and you weren't a Slytherin, I would like you a lot." Fred chuckled to Meg, who smirked back at him.

"But if I hadn't taken the map, you wouldn't know you liked me." She pointed out with a sneaky grin. Fred snorted and laughed harder.

"Don't laugh at that!" James snapped. "I say we cast a full body-bind on her, take the map and leave her in the middle of the corridor." Meg rolled her eyes.

"Don't be so dramatic. Plus you both may want to put your wands away soon." James opened his mouth ready to utter a spell, when from around the corner came Molly Weasley. Both boys cursed under their breath.

"Fred Weasley and James Potter, what do you think you are doing?" Her voice was an angry squawk. Molly Weasley was Head Girl this year and thought that rules should be followed very strictly. Since James and Fred were always pulling pranks, Molly was always attempting to punish them. Any slight infraction they may commit, Molly would seek it out and punish them for it.

James thought he might dislike Molly more than he disliked Slytherins, Fred confirmed that he definitely disliked Molly more. He wasn't sure if he should be more angry with Meg or scared of Molly.

"Pulling your wands out in the middle of the hall on some girl. You've gotta be kidding me, starting a duel against someone who's wand isn't even out. Dete-" Before Molly could finish her rant, Meg interrupted with a sweet voice.

"You're Molly Weasley right?" Molly nods proudly, nose in the air. "You wrote that essay on the theory of Calming Droughts mixed with a Draught of Peace." Molly nods again.

"Yeah."

"It was excellent, we read it in potions and you made some really good discoveries and points. I absolutely loved the theory that it could cause frustration instead of their original effects, because of the pixie leaves and dragon grass." Molly smiled then, something the boys rarely saw her do. Then she blushed.

"Thank you." Her voice was gentle, also a rare thing for Molly. James wondered what Meg was playing at, but didn't want to interrupt and call attention back to himself.

"Anyways, the boys were actually going to show me the patronus charm because we've only just begun it in Defence. Fred here was going to go first since he learned it last year." Molly grinned at Meg and accepted the excuse easily. James and Fred had attempted many similar excuses on Molly, but she never had believed them and always punished them anyways.

"Well, you really shouldn't do spells in the corridors, it can be dangerous. Maybe you could move to a classroom or outside?" Molly merely suggested, James and Fred were gaping. They'd had their wands out in the hallways, something against the rules and they weren't being punished.

"That's a lot smarter. Thanks!" Meg gazed at Molly as if she were brilliant, Molly blushed again. Meg looped her arms through the two boys and skipped off towards the grounds saying. "Let's go outside, it's perfect weather for studying."

James thought that the last sentence was laying it on too thick, but it seemed that Molly believed it. She didn't call anyone back, she didn't punish anyone and she didn't take points away.

James was obviously still upset about not having the map back yet, because the minute they were out of Molly's ear shot he demanded for it again.

"Give it back." He was whining now and with a sigh Meg responded.

"Honestly must we have this conversation again?" Fred shared a look with James before whispering to him.

"I mean I want the map back too, but considering she just saved us from Molly's wrath..." Fred trailed off, James snorted in annoyance. "I say we just show her how it's used."

"Why, so she can tell a teacher or steal it for herself?" James scowled deeply. There was no way he'd ever trust a Slytherin, especially one who'd stolen something from him.

"I doubt she'll go to a teacher when she just saved us from Molly, even though you were planning on hexing her. We'll shake on it, so she'll give it back."

"Slytherins never come through on their side of a deal." James hissed in warning.

"I happen to resent that comment." Meg glanced between the two boys, reminding them that she was right beside them and that she could hear them just fine. "You can't just categorize all Slytherins as unhelpful, evil, purebloods who hate Gryffindors."

"Well why not?" James snapped furiously at her.

"Slytherins are cunning and resourceful. Some may believe that they have to betray someone to keep themselves alive, others just use things for their own advantage. It's easy to help yourself without harming or betraying others." The two Gryffindors scrutinized her carefully.

"How will the map be resourceful for you if you promise to give it back?"

"I will know how it works. If the map is something you boys use to prank people, I will have a better chance of avoiding being pranked." Fred nodded with her logic and then looked to James.

"You won't tell anyone?" James inquired cautiously. He still wasn't fully convinced to trust her, but he didn't see how they'd get the map back without hexing her otherwise.

"Or may my wand be snapped." She said it very seriously, as it was a very serious thing to say. James sighed in defeat.

"Alright, fine." Fred and Meg shared excited looks.

"Yay!" They cheered together and high-fived. Meg did a little dance and Fred clapped joyously. James groaned as other students stared at the little group. James sped up his pace, striding to his and Fred's favorite tree. It was a tall one, thick and old with long branches stretching out over the lake. James plopped himself down against it. Fred sat facing him, as did Meg. They created a small secretive triangle, blocking out the inquiring glances of other students. Meg redrew the map from her pocket and placed the parchment in the center of the three. Together Fred and James tapped their wands on the map and spoke.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!" The black lettering began unfurling again, curling up and around the page, only this time there were drawings as well. The top of the map read;

"Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs proudly present the Marauders Map."

Meg stared in awe at the map of Hogwarts. She saw peoples names moving about, her own was stationed on the grounds, precisely where she sat.

"It's amazing!" Her eyes were wide trying to take it all in. James tapped the map again, quickly. He hoped that the five seconds of viewing would satisfy the girl.

"Mischief managed." Everything faded away, much to Meg's dismay. However, she didn't go to stop James from grabbing it and pocketing it, she followed through with their deal.

"Where'd you get it?" Meg was very intrigued now.

"It was my dad's. I found it in a locked drawer in his office desk before my second year." James explained. "He didn't really want to keep it hidden too badly or he would have made the drawer harder to open then with a simple 'Alohomora'."

James was proud of finding the map and figuring out how to use it. He shared the story with her because of that. If his ego hadn't been growing in that moment, he would've kept the story to himself. Slytherins weren't to be trusted, but considering she already knew about the map, there wasn't much harm.

"So why'd you need the map from Al so bad this morning?" James shook his head, refusing to talk too much more with Meg. Interesting or not she was still a Slytherin and James hated Slytherins. Fred spoke though.

"We were planning a prank, we were going to do it tonight, but James got detention." Meg's eyes went wide with excitement.

"Really? What are you going to do?"

"We were thinking about making the Slytherin dorm rooms rain glitter." Meg giggled at Fred's admission. James crossed his arms and glared at Fred for giving away their plan.

"That would be so funny. Most everyone would be so angry because glitter is terrible to get rid of. It is always popping back up everywhere!"

"How do you know that?" James questioned, an eyebrow raised.

"Hannah had a glittery scarf once and we'd find the glitter everywhere. Even after we threw the scarf out we'd still find pieces of glitter in our hair and on our clothes for months after." The boys grinned at the thought of a bunch of sparkling Slytherins.

"Right, only the problem is we can't get to the girl dorms without flying up the staircase and that's rather time consuming and difficult." Fred interjected. Meg nodded and instantly offered her assistance.

"Well I can do the girls' dorms then." The boys stared at her in shock.

"Really?" They boys spoke at the same time, incredulously.

"O'course. I just will conveniently forget my own dormitory." Fred let out a loud whoop of joy causing other students to stare at the three sitting under the tree. Many found the sight of James Potter sitting beside a Slytherin calmly, rather shocking. James was known for his hatred of all things Slytherin.

"We have to talk to Alfie about how to do the spell." James informed the other two.

Alfie Jordan was James' best friend since the day they met on the train. It's a wonder the two became friends considering how different they appeared. Alfie was studious, a Prefect and very level-headed, things James was certainly not. However, the boys did have one thing in common, their love of excitement. Their love for excitement is what brought them together, Alfie was often the brains behind the pranks that Fred and James would pull. Many girls considered Alfie handsome, he had dark brown hair and skin, with chocolate colored eyes and he was very tall.

"Alfie Jordan?" Meg asked, both James and Fred nodded. "Oh, I like him! Nice guy, he's a Prefect with me and sometimes we do rounds together." Fred looked at Meg horrified when she said the words Prefect. James' expression was similar, but he also felt a twinge of jealousy at the fact that this pretty, bubbly girl liked his friend. Alfie was his friend, not hers.

"You're a prefect?" Fred was astonished and horrified as Meg laughed.

"So is your friend Alfie, I don't see the big deal, it's not like I'm telling on you." She reasoned.

"True." Fred agreed, but still eyed her suspiciously.

"Fred she already offered her help, remember? Plus aren't I supposed to be the suspicious one not you? You loved her a moment ago." James rolled his eyes at his cousin's ridiculousness.

"That was before I knew she was a rule follower!" Fred cried in outrage, again calling attention to their small group. James sent some of the peepers, glares while Meg smiled and waved kindly at them.

"I'm not a rule follower." Meg rolled her eyes at both boys over dramatic responses. "I just manage not to get caught and I have perfect grades." She shrugged as if good grades and escaping punishment were no big deal.

"You're a female Alfie!" James gasped. Fred burst into laughter, James realizing what he'd said felt embarrassed and surveyed Meg cautiously not meaning to offend her. Meg had burst into giggles beside Fred and was practically rolling around the ground now. She wiped at her eyes.

"That was brilliant." She complimented James. He grinned and shrugged.

"I have been told I'm quite hilarious." Meg and Fred snorted at James' arrogance. They high fived in glee when James gave them an affronted look. Meg winked at him.

"Let's find Alfie then. Take your map out, go on." Meg was much too excited about the idea of using the map, sadly James crushed her dreams with five words.

"We don't need the map." A pout was instantly on Meg's lips.

"Oh," Fred chuckled at her downtrodden expression. "Don't worry we'll let you use it some other time." He winked at Meg, as a happy smile was on her face. James changed the subject quickly, not planning on ever following through with Fred's promise.

"I happen to know Alfie is in the library." James explained, although no one had asked. Meg pouted at him again.

"You could've pretended not to know and just let me use the map, you meany."James gaped at her and was affronted. He began to splutter as Meg hooked her arm through Fred's and together the two hopped up to their feet and skipped off. James followed behind them with a sigh and a shake of his head.

Even more people were glancing their way, Meg waved at a few who grinned and waved back to her amusedly. James tried not to chuckle at how ridiculous they were.

Fred and Meg skipped straight in the library and all the way to the back table where Alfie sat, his head buried in a book. He soon heard the approaching childlike giggles, his head raised in confusion. James could be seen right behind the two children and shrugged at his best mate.

"Hello Alfie!" Meg half whispered in her pretty chiming voice. Alfie appeared even more surprised to see Meg with Fred and James. The three sat themselves at Alfie's previously private table.

"Hey guys…" Alfie glanced between the three nervously.

"You never told us you were friends with pretty girls Alfie!" Fred teased rather loudly for a library. Alfie shushed him, before responding.

"You know she's a Slytherin and a Prefect, right?" Alfie checked with Fred and James incredulously.

"We've come to an understanding." Fred winked at Meg.

"Once he realized I was a rule breaker and I agreed to help with their prank, they decided I was okay." Alfie nodded his understanding, knowing the key to his friends' hearts; pranking, rule breaking, quidditch and food.

"Wait, what prank?" Alfie noticed his best friends excited faces. He groaned, but secretly felt the excitement himself.

"Raining glitter in the Slytherin Dorms!" James squealed. Alfie viewed Meg.

"You agreed to this?" Meg nodded.

"Sure, I'll do the girls' dorms, except mine of course." She winked at Alfie. He tapped his chin thoughtfully with his quill. Then yanked a new piece of parchment from his bag and began scribbling down notes on it.

Conjure glitter

Make it rain from ceiling

Continuously falling

He'd written a list, Meg leaned in and read it to herself.

"What's that for?" She inquired in interest.

"What I have to look up." Alfie explained. "I have to figure out the spells to cast to make these things happen."

"It's his job." Fred explained, James nodded.

"Researching isn't fun." James shuddered as he said it.

"I think it could be," Meg shrugged. "I'll help you figure out the spells Alfie." James immediately wished he hadn't said that researching wasn't fun, because now he had a strange urge to want to help research. He shoved the urge away and reminded himself that Meg was a Slytherin. A distrustful, rude Slytherin.

"Thanks Meg." Alfie and Meg began talking about different spells and books they could use or check. Fred wrinkled his nose.

"Let's leave, they are getting all technical." James convinced himself to stand and leave Meg with Alfie. He wasn't sure how to feel about her. He wanted to mistrust her because she was a Slytherin, but every time he forgot what house she was in he wanted to talk to her, to get to know her.

"See you at dinner, Alfie." James and Fred left the other two alone. James knew he had to clear his head of the pretty, brunette, Slytherin.

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**Thanks- Jenn**


	4. Prank Planning

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**Anya:Yes I'm continuing, don't worry. I've got quite a lot ****written so far and a plan of more to come so this is going to have at least 20 chapters is my guess.**

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><p>Chapter 4: Prank Planning<p>

Fred and James were chatting about quidditch again. James was the Gryffindor captain this year, it was his first year as Captain as he was now a sixth year. James hadn't realized before how difficult being Captain would be, but he'd complained to Alfie around a hundred times about everything he had to do. He'd had to book practices before he'd even chosen his team, Wednesdays from four to five and long practices on Sunday mornings before breakfast. He'd only just scheduled tryouts, he had a vague idea of the people he'd chose as they had been on the team last year, but he couldn't make any precise decisions until tryouts. At the moment Fred was convincing James that a pretty 6th year girl, Mary something, should be put on the team despite the fact she couldn't fly.

"But think of how good she'd look in a uniform." Fred whined.

"I don't care what she looks like in her uniform! Merlin, Fred I can't let the team be bullocks." Fred and James continued to argue.

"We figured out the spells to use."Alfie interrupted the pointless argument. James and Fred exchanged animated expressions, suddenly forgetting their disagreement. James was getting ready to speak, when a voice interrupted.

"Did you tell them yet?" Meg slipped into the bench beside James. Alfie rolled his eyes.

"Well I was in the middle of it." Alfie was teasing her playfully and she responded likewise.

"Sorry!" Meg didn't look very sorry.

Alfie glanced around him and noticed the Gryffindors staring at Meg in shock. They were surprised that a Slytherin was sitting at the Gryffindor table. During breakfast and lunch it was common for students to sit at tables other than their own house if they had friends at another table. Dinner was more formal and most people sat with their correct house. No rule stated that you had to sit at your house table for every meal, but it was very rare that Slytherins and Gryffindors would mingle. Slytherins weren't known to mingle in general. Many people thought badly of all Slytherin students. Meg, despite her house, had managed to befriend most of the school, including himself though. She hardly noticed the looks she was getting. Alfie grinned and turned back to the conversation.

"First we conjure the glitter and use an in between of Mobili-Wadawasi , then a Gemino curse and that should do it." He explained.

"Alfie is so brilliant." Meg gushed, causing Alfie to blush.

"You're the one who figured out that saying Mobili-wadawasi would cause the confetti to fly around the whole room." Meg laughed and modestly waved her hand.

"Yeah, but you figured out how the wand movement should go. Much more important if you ask me, the wrong wand movement could cause something to blow up! Plus you thought of the Gemino cure, positively evil really, everytime they touch glitter, more is created." Fred let out a loud guffaw and soon the others joined him in laughter. James was hesitant to join in, not entirely comfortable with Meg sitting beside him. Alfie could see James unsure expression and he almost rolled his eyes at his friend.

James, Fred and Alfie had always been a three person pranking team, none of them trusted anyone else to help with or tell their plans to. Alfie supposed James was feeling jealous, he was never good at sharing friends or the spotlight.

"James, are you okay?" Alfie glanced at James with genuine worry.

"Just peachy." He deadpanned and stood from his seat. "I'm not very hungry though, so I'm going up to the dorm."

Alfie and Fred exchanged looks, suddenly knowing their friend's problem. They could guess James thoughts. Meg waved 'good bye' kindly to James, which was ignored. Alfie let out a disgruntled sigh. After James had left the Great Hall, Meg faced the other two boys.

"Is he going to be okay?" Meg appeared genuinely concerned about James. Fred nodded with a roll of his eyes.

"Yeah, he's just being a blighter." Fred snorted into his plate of food. Alfie let out another breath. Meg waited for them to explain further and Alfie continued hesitantly.

"James is… possessive." Meg's curiosity was piqued.

"Oh?" She was awaiting more information.

"He likes his friends, as his friends." Alfie shrugged as further explanation.

"He doesn't do the whole 'new friends' bit easily either. Change isn't his favorite thing." Fred extended the statement. Meg nodded her understanding.

"You should sneak him up some dinner then. He'll probably be starving since his excuse was fake." Alfie was shocked by Meg's kindness as he had been many a time before.

"What? No way! He should suffer." Fred conspired as Alfie nodded vigorously in agreement.

"Bring him some food." She chided the boys as if she were their mothers. They both pouted at her, but didn't disagree. Meg nabbed a napkin and stuffed some of the essentials from dinner into it, folding it safely and handing it to Alfie to pocket.

"I don't understand how you can be so kind when he was being such a berk."

"He'll get used to me eventually." She shrugged. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, my friends keep staring over here." Indeed the group of Slytherin 6th year girls were continually glancing at Meg. They kept frowning toward the Gryffindor table either in disgust or confusion. She gave a wave good bye to the boys and left to return to the Slytherin table.

Alfie tramped into his dorm room and noticed James laying in his bed with a huge pout. Before James could groan about his empty stomach, the napkin full of food was being chucked onto his chest. He grunted from the projectile object, but soon let out a yell of excitement.

"Thanks Alfie, I'm starving!"

"Oh, don't thank me you blighter. I wanted you to starve, but Meg insisted that I bring you food." James felt a little startled and guilty at that.

"She- she?" Alfie gave an angry nod.

"She insisted even after we told her why you left." James sat up straight, food falling onto his bed.

"You what?" A piece of turkey hung from his mouth and he squawked in outrage.

"Oh shut it, you jealous swot." Alfie chucked one of his shoes at James. He ducked and let out a yelp.

"Alright, Alright. I'm sorry!" James cried as more projectiles flew from Alfie's hands.

"Are you really, because honestly I think you'd like Meg if you gave her a chance." James shrugged,

"Would I?"

"I really think you would." James scoffed at his friend.

"I doubt that."

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><p><strong>Please review?<strong>

**Thanks- Jenn**


	5. Slytherins Aren't So Bad?

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**Extended Experience: That made me laugh so much. You'll have to read and find out, I mean they are only just becoming friends!**

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**Sorry this is kind of more a filler chapter, but it's important for the story development so... I didn't realize how boring it was until I was rereading it to edit. **

**Disclaimer - I don't own HP.**

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><p><em>Chapter 5: Slytherins Aren't So Bad?<em>

James was thinking about his talk with Alfie the night before. He didn't think he could ever get along with a Slytherin. Slytherins were nasty, lying, cheating, conniving…

"Hey Jamie." James instantly felt guilty about those thoughts.

"Hey Lil." He turned to face his little sister in her emerald green tie and standard black Hogwarts' robes.

James had noticed that Lily hadn't made many friends among her housemates, perhaps because of her brother's opinions. Lily had always been very friendly and got along well with others, she just was never very trusting. Two traits that seemed to clash, but really they made things easier for Lily. Lily had stuck with her friends since diapers, Alice, Hugo, Domonique and Lysander and even in her second year she seemed to prefer them to any of the Slytherins.

James always worried that she was refusing to make friends because of his hatred for all things Slytherin. He felt guilty, but also rather glad that he hadn't had to put up with annoying little Slytherin First years all of last year.

"I was just wondering if your owl was available. Mine is at Teddy's." James nodded.

"Yeah Lil, you can use Crow." He shook his head a little at her. "You know it's alright to borrow a school owl, they have plenty." Lily shrugged.

"I like Crow though." James waved her off.

"What ever, borrow him if you want." Lily thanked James with a ruffle of his hair, causing an undignified squeaked protest from his mouth.

"Brat." He coughed after her.

"Prick." She called over her shoulder. James could hear her giggles even as she left.

His sister might be annoying sometimes, as younger siblings often are, but she was a sweetheart as well. He rethought again his conversation from the night before. If his sister was a Slytherin and so wonderful, then maybe all Slytherins weren't awful.

Maybe he could give Meg a chance.

Only maybe though.

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><p>It was Monday morning and Gryffindors and Slytherins had double potions together. Yet somehow Meg managed to keep up a huge grin across her face and a skip in her step. She walked beside her two best friends. Hannah Belby and Layla West.<p>

"So James Potter, Fred Weasley and Alfie Jordan, huh?" Hannah inquired, with raised eyebrows.

Hannah was one of the girls in Meg's dorm, she had a large personality despite her short stature. She was all curves and attitude, which is why she got along perfectly with Meg. Of course, most people got along well with Meg, honestly.

"We didn't know you were friends with them, is all." Layla was much more tactful.

Layla was Meg's best friend since first year. She was much quieter than her two friends and more peaceable. Her hair was pretty, straight and blonde and her eyes a rich brown. Layla claimed her eyes were mud colored and she wished they looked more like Meg's.

"Yeah, they're interesting. Plus Alfie and I have always been friends since we're both prefects."

"You and Alfie aren't more than friends, right?" Hannah demanded.

"Of course we aren't." Meg chuckled. "Why do you ask Han?" Hannah grinned roguishly.

"No reason." She attempted to fake innocence, causing both her friends to scoff.

"Hm, sure." Meg winked teasingly.

The girls took one of the tables at the back that could seat three, preparing themselves for 90 minutes straight of potions.

"So you like Alfie?" Meg inquired innocently.

"He's cute." Hannah shrugged. "So is James, though I'm guessing you've noticed, eh?"

Hannah elbowed her friend suggestively, causing her to shake her head fondly.

"I bet you want in Alfie's pants!"

"Meg!" Layla was glancing between her two friends, horrified.

James and Alfie had sunk into the seats in front of the girls, unknowing of the fact that the girls had just been talking about them. All three females burst into fits of giggles and shushed each other.

"What's so funny?" James turned around in his seat to stare at the girls. The continued giggling.

"Meg thinks you're good looking, but personally I prefer Alfie." Hannah offered, causing a squeak of embarrassment from Layla and a barking laugh from Meg. Alfie was slowly going pink at the ears.

"I was wrong about you Wood, you have fantastic taste!" James winked at her.

"We all know Meggy has good taste." Layla giggles as she has a playful poke at Hannah. "Better than Han that is."

Hannah shrieked in outrage and rose a hand to her heart. Meg high-fived Layla whilst cackling. Alfie hadn't turned around in his seat until now.

"Well if it's between James and I, I'm sure we all know the correct choice." Hannah and Meg both nodded and spoke at the same time.

"Alfie." Their choice was unanimous and caused James jaw to drop open.

"Hey! I take back what I said! You have horrible taste." Meg waved her hand uncaringly at James.

"No, no. You are good looking, but you're a one night stands kind of guy. Alfie's the boy you bring home to meet your parents." The other two girls nod their acquiescence as if what Meg had said was the most true statement ever spoken. Alfie frowned in confusion.

"Uh, thank you?" He was unsure whether the girls were complimenting him or insulting him. Hannah shrugged.

"I think you are an everything kinda guy, Alfie." She winked, attempting to flirt with him. Alfie reddened and opened his mouth to respond.

"Alright class, attention please!" The potions professor began lecturing after a clap of his hands for attention. His lecture wouldn't stop for another half hour and by then everyone would be rushing around grabbing ingredients and brewing their potions.

After double potions and charms for the Slytherins it was finally lunch time. Hannah was shoving past students in the hall, attempting to make it to lunch quicker. She'd decided that four waffles and ten pieces of bacon was only enough to hold her for a single hour not three. Layla and Meg drifted a ways behind their brisk friend, calmly.

"Are you sitting with us?" Layla wondered pleasantly.

"No, but I will at dinner. Promise." Meg responded with a smile.

"That's fine." Layla meant it, she wasn't the sort to get upset that her friend had other plans. Layla wasn't the sort to get upset in general. Her friends often joked that she was Switzerland with a little white flag flying all the time.

The Great Hall was bustling as students ran to seats and served themselves food. Hannah was already seated at the Slytherin table shoveling food into her mouth with one hand and dishing herself more food with the other. She hardly noticed when Layla took the seat beside her and Meg walked over to the Gryffindor table instead.

"Hullo." Meg greeted the three pranksters gently, eyeing James for permission to sit.

"Hey, take a seat. We were just talking about the prank and you should definitely be in this." She scooched in beside Fred and across from the other two and smiled kindly at James. The other two were viewing him with surprise.

"Excellent, what exactly were we talking about?" Fred went to inform her, but James bewildered them all by answering pleasantly.

"Just reviewing the spell technique and wondering when would be a good day. Fred thought Saturday." Meg thought for a moment before shaking her head.

"No, Saturdays no good. I've got Quidditch try outs the next day and I don't want those messed with. Let's do it Thursday night?" Her suggestion was agreed to by all three boys, albeit James' was a hesitant.

"We should practice the spell work before then though, we don't want to mess it up and Alfie won't be coming with us…" Fred glanced at the other three.

"I think we have a free at 2:00 tomorrow?" Meg had heard Slytherin and Gryffindor had a study block at the same time on Tuesdays.

"I don't, mines today and thursdays." Fred groaned.

"What period on thursdays?" Meg wanted to know.

"Forth." Fred responded.

"Right after lunch?" Meg looked excited, when Fred nodded confirmation, Meg continued. "Perfect me too, we can go over it together, just us then?" James face was pulling into a small pout, but he agreed to the plan nonetheless.

"Sounds perfect." All four were very happy with their planning and were fairly positive nothing could go wrong. All through the rest of the day they grinned widely. Even when Peeves threw balloons filled with paint, successfully soaking the four in a colorful mess, all they did was roar in laughter and compliment Peeves brilliant prank.

Peeves flew around humming a sickly happy tune all day, splashing students in bright colors. Thursday night couldn't come fast enough.

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><p><strong>Please review?<strong>

**Thanks- Jenn**


	6. A Weird Day and Pranks, Hooray!

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**Extended Experience: Peeves is interesting, I think. I started really liking him in his last scene of Deathly Hallows when he sang that "Voldy had gone moldy". Thanks for the quick review!**

**K: Thank you! I'm glad the last chapter wasn't ****toooo boring. **

**This chapter should be a lot more interesting then the last, I promise. Plus we get some more Al and the prank finally happens, sorta. **

**Disclaimer - I don't own HP.**

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><p><em>Chapter 6: A Weird Day and Pranks, Hooray!<em>

Al had awoken to one of his roommates jumping on his bed screaming, another one running circles around the dorm, the third hopping up and down in place yelling, and the fourth nowhere to be found. He dressed quickly and raced down the stairs only to happen upon his sister hexing another kid while her scarf was on fire beside her in the common room. He snuck past her feeling slightly sorry for the kid on the receiving end of her wand. Next, when traveling down a corridor, he heard a piercing scream and witnessed one of his many cousins chasing after a cat with a piece of parchment in it's mouth.

It was safe to say Al's morning had been more than a little interesting.

When Al walked into the Great Hall he was hardly surprised to see his brother acting just as strange as the rest of the world. James was sitting next to a Slytherin girl at the breakfast table. He recognized her as the girl who'd been with James on the Astronomy tower. Al's bad mood increased at the memory. His dumb brother was always interrupting at the worst times.

Time to give James a taste of his own medicine.

"Is this your girlfriend?" He interjected over James laughter. James glanced up at Al with a scowl. Al had spoken loud enough for most of the Gryffindor's to hear, causing them to turn and listen intently, wanting to know the answer themselves. The Hogwarts gossip mill loved the Potters and loved drama, so put them together and…. Well, it was the most exciting thing possible.

"Excuse me?" James questioned Al.

"Are you dating a Slytherin?" Al glanced at Meg's green and silver tie, pointedly.

"No!" James appeared shocked and he shook his head quickly. Meg giggled at James slightly horrified face.

"I am offended at how quick you are to dismiss our love." She spoke seriously, causing James eyes to grow larger. Al burst into laughter. "Only joking!" She held up her hand reassuringly and winked at Al.

"You know I came over here to annoy my brother, but it looks like you're doing that pretty well yourself." Al slid into the space between James and Meg, shoving James over. James was scowling at him, Al was all to happy to ignore his brother.

"We were never properly introduced." Al stuck a hand out to Meg and offered her a grin. "I'm Al."

"Meg." She accepted his hand and returned his smile. Al turned to James.

"Normally I'd question your well being since you are sitting with a Slytherin, but I've seen stranger this morning." James frowned into his eggs.

"Meg's too nice for people not to like her. Even Slytherin hater James." Alfie informed Albus.

"Really?" Al faced Meg inquiringly. She shrugged.

"I'm just normal nice. Alfie is being sweet." She spoke modestly with a smile Alfie's way. Her answer seemed to confirm Alfie's earlier statement, causing Al to take instant interest in Meg.

Al sat and watched the interactions between James and Meg. He expected for James to be his usual rude self and for Meg to return the feelings. James Potter may hate Slytherins, but they hated him back just as strongly. Instead he witnessed something as strange as the rest of his morning had been.

They got along.

Although, Al supposed it would be hard not to get along with Meg. She was so kind and bubbly and he found himself smiling at everything she did and said. He did notice James' attempts to keep up his pretenses of dislike, but he was failing majorly.

Meg had just finished a rather hilarious story and James was attempting not to laugh. His face contained a strained smile and soon the chuckles were escaping his lips. James' pained expression caused Al much amusement. His brother was too stubborn for his own good.

"Time for class." Al informed everyone just before the bell rung.

"Yes, thanks Al." James rolled his eyes, but stood all the same. "What class do you have?" James asked Meg.

"Herbology." She informed him.

"Alright well we can walk together most of the way. Alfie and I have Care Of Magical Creatures." Meg nodded.

"Sounds good. Nice meeting you officially Al." She waved to Al and left with James and Alfie. Two Slytherin girls caught up to her and began talking animatedly with her. Al smirked a little after his brother, shaking his head.

Meg had slithered her way into James' life and Al had a feeling she'd be staying. James didn't even realize that it was too late for him to keep hating her. He would eventually.

Al spotted Scorpius and ran to catch up with him. He had to tell his best friend all about the crazy morning he'd had. Psycho roommates, scary sisters, strange cousins with cats and his brother liking a Slytherin. Of course, he supposed no day was exactly normal at Hogwarts.

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><p>Meg tapped her foot impatiently and glanced at the clock for the third time that night. Quarter past one. They were five minutes late.<p>

Tick. Tick. Tick.

six minutes late.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Seven minutes late.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Eight minu-

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Three soft knocks sounded on the entrance through the Slytherin Common Room. The signal. Meg shoved the doorway open, letting it swing outward. No one stood there, all that was there was an empty hall. The doorway began to close by itself. Meg glanced around the room, looking, looking, looki-

"Ouch!" Someone had stepped on her tapping foot. She reached out and felt a silky material in her hand, she yanked. Fred and James seemed to appear from thin air. She shook her head at them and hissed. "Ready?"

They both nodded. Meg pointed to one set of stairs. "Good luck." She whispered to them, they returned her sentiments and the three were off. Meg up to the girls' and Fred and James to the boys' side. Meg stopped first at the Slytherin First year girls' dorms and creaked the door open slowly. She listened. The only sound was breathing and slight movements on beds.

Meg set to work. Her wand waving and glitter began to fall from the ceiling. She casted the spells as they'd all planned for them to be, she made sure not to cast it too strong, after all they were only first years. Next, Meg moved along to the second years dorm and repeated her previous actions. She kept going doing each dorm room, besides the sixth year girls. When Slytherin house woke, it would be to raining glitter.

Meg tiptoed down the stairs, ready to share her success with the other two boys when she heard it. She was almost at the bottom of the stairs as heavy footsteps came thumping down the stairs. James and Fred whipped down the boys' staircase, eyes wild, next without glancing at Meg they were charging out of the Slytherin Common rooms all together, invisibility cloak flapping in James arms, forgotten.

"Come back here!" A loud voice shouted after the boys and Meg heard another pair of footsteps coming down the other staircase. She stood frozen on the third to last step when Blaise Zabini II revealed himself, a panting, angry mess. He went to sprint out of the Common Room as James and Fred had done, probably in pursuit of the very tricksters, but Meg knew to stop him. She couldn't let the boys get caught.

"Blaise?" She worked to make her voice sound confused and tired as she rubbed her eyes and yawned theatrically. Blaise turned on the spot, his handsome features meeting her.

"Meg?" He was surprised to say the least.

Blaise Zabini II was as good looking as his father, Blaise Zabini the first. His eyes slanted and and brown, cheekbones high and skin dark. At the moment he looked tired and angry and very startled. Meg yawned again for good measure.

"I heard noise and thought I'd check it out." She cocked her head to the side in her best imitation of a confused puppy dog. Blaise was putty in her hands.

"No worries, just some guys were trying to prank Slytherin I suspect." Meg prayed that Zabini hadn't actually realized which boys they were and what prank they were pulling.

"Who?" Her eyes were wide.

"I don't know, think one of them had red hair." Meg wanted to sigh in relief put prevented herself from doing so.

"Should we tell a Professor?" She wondered falsely in concern. As if she'd actually go to a professor.

"No, no." Zabini reassured her. "Everythings fine."

"Where'd you find them." She stepped forward in her curiosity, down the last three steps.

"In my dormitory. Waving their wands and laughing loudly." Meg almost smacked her hand against her head in exasperation. Honestly, how dense could those boys be?

"I'm a prefect, I should come up and check your dorm, just in case." Meg claimed, really she just wanted to finish off the work that Fred and James hadn't. She figured being a prefect was always a good excuse. Zabini believed her instantly and offered his arm to her.

"Let me escort you up." Meg giggled a little at his play chivalry. She'd always found Zabini attractive and considering how quick he was to protect his dorm mates, Meg felt she liked him slightly more now. The two Slytherins ghosted up the stairs silently whispering to each other. Meg was attempting to stifle laughter that Zabini had forced from her with a rather humorous comment.

When they'd made it to the 6th year dorm rooms, Meg made a production of searching the dorm and finding nothing.

"Appears safe." She shrugged. Zabini grinned at her.

"Thank you for checking and keeping my life safe."

"My pleasure, good sir." She gave a faux curtsy, and Blaise bowed back at her.

"Good night then Meg." He climbed into bed and drew his curtains.

"Night." She gently muttered back. Her wand was in the air immediately after Blaise's hangings had closed and she cast the spells quickly over her shoulder as she closed the door to the 6th year boys' dorm. Next, she moved up the stairs further, not going back down as she should. She reached the seventh year dorm and again did the spells. Sparkles misted down around the beds and the boy's who hadn't closed their hangings were already covered in the shimmering stuff.

Meg had to stop herself from sprinting back to her dorm and hiding under her covers. Her nerves were on end as she tiptoed back to her dorm, the only dorm with no sparkling rain. She laid back against her pillow.

Prank successful.

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><p><strong>Small explanation because I have a feeling I'm going to be asked: Al is in Gryffindor, Lily is in Slytherin. I imagine since a good portion of her family and friends are Gryffindors that she'd figure out how to get into the Gryffindor common room. (Just in case any of you were confused by her being in the Gryffindor common room at the beginning of the Chapter.)<strong>

**Please review?**

**Thanks- Jenn**


	7. Glitter and Quidditch Tryouts

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**Extended Experience: Yeah I thought it might've been a little confusing!**

**K: well there are multiple girls in Meg's dorm, 5 to be precise so they can all be suspected, but you can't be positive on which one it was. I'm kind of just writing each kid as I imagine them. I thought that Albus wouldn't be in Slytherin because he seemed rather averse to it, also I didn't think he was shy. I saw him as just kind of annoyed and picked on by his older brother, so that's why he isn't cliche. Thank you for reviewing!  
><strong>

**SamanthaRenee17: Thank you for the review!**

**Disclaimer - I don't own HP.**

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><p><em>Chapter 7: Glitter and Quidditch Try Outs<em>

The Slytherin dorms were in uproar. Girls were shrieking, boys cursing, and everyone waving their wands around in the chaos. The 6th year girls slept peacefully, fully unaware to the absolute pandemonium happening just outside their bedroom. All, but one that is. Meg had woken to the first shriek with a huge grin on her face.

Giggles, shrieks and cursing were Meg's new favorite morning sound she decided in that moment. She slowly rose from her bed and began readying herself.

"What the bloody hell?" A loud voice echoed in their dorm. Hannah had sat up straight in her bed, hair mussed and everywhere, blinking wearily.

"Language Han." Layla muttered through a yawn as she too sat up. "What's going on?" She blinked in confusion as more cursing could be heard.

"That's what I just asked!" Hannah yelled in indignation. Layla turned to Meg.

"Don't know I've only just woken from the racket myself, thought I'd put clothes on before going to see it." The other two girls in Meg's dorm, Carol Finnegan and Emma MacMillan had finally awoken too.

"What's that awful racket?" Emma's whiny, nasal voice cried as she clutched her hands over her ears.

"Not this again." Hannah mumbled as Meg repeated what she'd told Layla. The girls decided getting dressed was indeed priority. They yanked on clothes, applied make-up and did hair as fast as they could before cautiously poking out into the hallways. Girls covered in glitter were running up and down the stairs. Glitter covered the floors, rugs and was pouring out the doors to the dorms the girls could see.

"What the bloody hell!" Hannah exclaimed in excitement.

"What a horrid mess!" Emma squawked as she leaned away from the falling glitter.

"The dorms are raining glitter!" A fifth year girl was crying loudly. "It's everywhere!"

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><p>Fred and James were nervous. Had Zabini been able to see them last night? They watched as scowling Slytherins coated in glitter entered the Great Hall for breakfast. They left sparkly trails and bouts of laughter behind them. Even the teachers were chuckling about the sparkly Slytherin table.<p>

Fred was surprised to see that the 7th and 6th year Slytherin boys were coated in the sparkles as well, he figure they must have run into the younger year dorms to check out the commotion.

Meg and her dorm mates walked in clean, earning glares from the other Slytherins. Meg bee-lined for the Gryffindor table, earning herself more glares from the Slytherins. She ignored them all.

"I had to finish it by myself after you guys left last night." Meg's voice was quiet and slightly humorous. She like Fred, James and Alfie had noticed the way all of Gryffindor was listening to their conversation. The Hogwarts student body wasn't dumb. They knew who the pranksters of the school were, and they had noticed that one of the few Slytherins unaffected by the prank was talking to the suspected pranksters. Gryffindors had a duty to the rest of the school to eavesdrop and spread the gossip.

"Sorry, we got kicked out of the library." James invented an excuse for them to be talking.

"It's fine, I talked to Professor Boot and convinced him that it wasn't your fault. Then I did the last two parts of the project." The Gryffindors were growing bored with the talk about potions class and projects and had begun returning to their own conversations.

"You talked to him? Did he…" Fred trailed off realising he couldn't say anything else. Meg shook her head though and whispered.

"Had no clue." Fred let out a breath of relief and heard James do the same.

"Thank Merlin!" He practically shouted. By now everyone was back in their own conversations, they ignored Fred's outbursts, they were a common happening.

The rest of the day was exhilarating for the pranksters and it was something that made James completely forget his nerves about quidditch tryouts the next day. They were remembered the instant Fred reminded James that he was going to have to wake up early. James groaned in worry, hopefully they'd go well.

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><p>James was ready to do something desperate. Maybe fly to the top of the castle and dive off his broom. Or, maybe drown himself in the lake. Yes, quidditch tryouts were really that spectacularly dreadful. James mused that if he did drown himself, perhaps he could first befriend the Giant Squid, it might be a better quidditch player than half of these dunces.<p>

"You look angst filled Potter." The voice was a soft, amused whisper in his ear. James ran a stressed hand through his hair and turned to see Meg's sympathetic face. He let out a loud, indeed angst-filled, sigh.

"None of these blighters even know how to fly." He whined at her. Meg giggled at James' dramatics.

"Ask them to all fly around the pitch, do laps, those who fall off are out." She suggested. James viewed her in amazement.

"How are you so smart?" He muttered in wonder, bringing on more giggles from Meg.

"Oh, go on." She shoved him towards the many Gryffindors attempting to hover on their brooms, some were already tipping sideways and clutched onto the broom for their lives.

"If you're a first year, leave!" James voice boomed, complaints were heard from a few smaller students as they left the field. "You know the rules." James called after them.

Next, he took Meg's advice, requesting everyone make five laps around the field, the fastest they could go. Those who fell rather quickly or putted along incredibly slowly were told to clear the field. About half of the original amount of Gryffindors remained, something James was glad for. His next move was to separate the different positions into sections. He gave each group a few easy drills to run and he flew around them, viewing.

Exercises became continuously harder, creating an easy way of picking out the better players. After many drills, James had finally made his choices. He called the remaining hopefuls into a group around him so he could call out the new positions.

"Chasers are Schmander, Creevey and Corner. Beater, Fred." People began dissipating in anger, frustration and disappointment when their name wasn't called. Those whose names had been said were grinning and in Fred's case doing victory dances. "Keeper; Roxanne and Al, you're seeker."

Most of the rejects left the field with small mumbles and hung heads. However one angry Gryffindor began stomping his feet and screaming at James.

"You just put your family on the team! If I had known you had to be a Potter or Weasley to get on the team, I wouldn't have even tried out." James' anger got to him and he found himself spitting back.

"McLagan you shouldn't have tried out because you absolutely suck and it just happens that my family is all better than you. Hell, I'm guessing a flobberworm would be better than you." The new Gryffindor Quidditch team snickered at their Captain's speech, and some of the spectators chuckled as well. Meg was laughing so hard there were tears streaming from her eyes.

"How dare you, you insufferable prat!" McLagan had pulled out his wand and had it pointed at James. James of course didn't take the clue and laughed madly.

"You are calling me, insufferable. Take a look in the mirror-" James insult was cut short as light flew from McLagan's wand. James' eyes widened, he hadn't had the chance to take out his own wand and the spell was flying straight at his face.

"Detention McLagan!" Meg's voice was clear and scary as she flicked her wand, casting an invisible shield. The flying spell bounced away harmlessly, hitting the grass on the pitch and setting fire. Another flick of her wand and water was spouting on the fire. Meg's eyes were blazing furiously. Her earlier laughter had completely disappeared. James felt nervous at Meg's sudden fury and McLagan appeared to be too, no one had ever seen kind, sweet Meg appear so vicious. "You can bet your head of house will be hearing about how you attacked Potter unprovoked, while he had no wand out to protect him all over not being picked for the quidditch team." James knew that Meg was stretching the tale and he figured McLagan couldn't be too happy about that. He waited for someone to correct Meg's story. No one did.

Every person appeared either too shocked or too frightened by Meg's dagger filled voice and blazing eyes. They all cleared the way as she began to stride off the pitch. She glanced at McLagan once.

"Come along." James swore McLagan was about to pee his pants as he sprinted after Meg. James decided then that Meg wasn't so bad after all, in fact she was sort of brilliant.

"Dude, marry her." Fred muttered to James being the first to speak. James chuckled and joked back.

"You know, I think I might."

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><p><strong>Okay, so I'm going to Mexico over February vacation and I don't think I'll have much chance to go online, possibly none at all... so I wont be able to update until after the 24th. I'll try to update ASAP on my week back or if there's a chance of internet in Mexico I'll update then. Sorry guys - I know I've been updating this rather frequently and that will feel like a long wait. <strong>

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll talk to you agin in a little over a week!**

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**Thanks- Jenn**


	8. Another Round of Quidditch Tryouts

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**diyame: lil/scor is going to come much much later in the story and isn't the main focus, so if that's the only reason you're reading then you may want to stop... Sorry to ****disappoint! **

**Disclaimer - I don't own HP.**

**This is a shorter chapter so I'll update again very soon!**

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><p><em>Chapter 8: Another Round of Quidditch Tryouts<em>

Meg Wood felt completely at ease, after word had spread about her explosion yesterday no one was crossing her. Not that anyone had really crossed her before, but now they weren't even daring to share their suspicions of her being a part of the glitter prank.

The Quidditch tryouts for Slytherin had barely begun and the people walking on to the field were hesitant. Good, they'll listen to me. She thought with pleasure. Hannah came skipping over to Meg with a huge grin on her face.

"This is brilliant!" She exclaimed at the situation. Meg nodded her agreement and winked at her friend.

Hannah was the only person to skip up to Meg, hug her and give a large greeting. The rest of the Slytherins stopped a fair distance away from her, awaiting her orders.

"Hello Wood." Meg glanced over to see James pulling back from whispering in her ear, just as she had done yesterday. They shared a grin.

"Why are you here Potter?" James shrugged.

"Just in case anyone tries to hex you, I figured I'll be your security today since you were mine yesterday." Hannah chortled at James.

"Please Potter, I don't think anyone is going to risk making Meg angry. They want to stay in one piece." Meg giggled at her friends exaggeration. She surely wasn't that scary, all she'd done was take McLagan to Professor Longbottom's office and explain what had happened. Of course, knowing Hogwarts the rumours about what had happened probably made her out a lot scarier than she was.

"Alright Hannah, off with the others, so I can start." Hannah winked at Meg as she teased.

"Or what, you'll blow me up?" Meg nodded seriously.

"I might, you know?" The two girls burst into laughter. Once the others witnessed Meg's laughter, their nerves began to settle. Their straight backs relaxed and small smiles flickered onto their faces.

"Now that's better." Meg's voice echoed on the pitch. "I don't want a team that only scowls, you have to be pretty too!" More smiles and even a couple chuckles were heard. Meg ran her tryouts similarly to how James had the day before, the difference being she was grinning and kind and everyone willingly did as they were told. Slytherins appeared much more organized and less brash about not being accepted on the team then Gryffindors had been.

"Alright, time for final results!" The finalists gathered around Meg in anticipation. Meg began announcing name. "Beaters are Flint and Creevey, my keeper is Bao, and the lovely chasers are Hannah, Malfoy and Zabini." She shot Hannah a wink when she said lovely.

"Thank you darling!" Hannah responded loudly.

"I believe she was actually talking about me, right?" Zabini winked at Meg.

"It was definitely me." Scorpius argued, good naturedly.

"Hm, yep definitely Malfoy." She said mock seriously as the other two acted very offended.

"I'm ten times prettier than him!" Hannah shrieked, causing laughter from everyone, even James found he couldn't help snickering at the Slytherins.

"Okay, sweetie." Meg patted Hannah's head, causing her to pout. "Dinner time?" Meg suggested, much to everyones merriment.

"Finally!" James allowed Meg to hook her arm through his, Hannah grabbing the other and off they skipped.

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><p>Alfie and Fred raised their eyebrows at James as he sat himself down across from them. James had come skipping into the Great Hall, attached to not just one, but two Slytherin girls. He'd had his arm hooked in Meg's until they had to separate to go to their separate tables.<p>

"So, are you friends with Meg now then?" Alfie questioned innocently.

"Sure, Wood's actually okay." James saw both his friends share looks, Fred began snickering.

"You mean after you gave her a chance, as I suggested, you actually liked her. As I said you would?" James rolled his eyes at Alfie.

"After the thing with McLaggan, how could I not give her a chance?" He pointed out to both of his mates.

"Precisely!" Alfie exclaimed. "I told you that you'd like her." James frowned as he began serving himself food.

"I never said I liked her… She's okay." Fred and Alfie rolled their eyes in annoyance.

"Whatever James." The other two gave in for now, both knowing that after James got over his problem with new people he'd love Meg. They knew eventually he'd stop referring to her as 'Wood' and eventually he'd happily invite her to hang out with them. He would want her to hang out with them one day.

Sadly Monday wouldn't be that day.

Monday morning was always dreaded by Slytherin and Gryffindor house, for they had double potions with each other. It wasn't that Professor Boot was a bad teacher, anything but really. It was just the dungeons themselves, they always felt too hot or too cold, which made no sense for a magically heated and cooled school. Plus there was the whole house feud between green and red.

Meg had come into potions with Hannah and they were almost late. Meg had planned that of course. All the seats except four had been taken and the usual three that Layla, Meg and Hannah sat in had been taken.

Alfie and Layla were also late to class. Something Meg had asked Layla to help arrange. Layla had spilled pumpkin juice on Alfie's potions essay this morning, and after apologizing multiple times, they had left together to see if they could fix it.

Meg saw the empty seat beside James, knowing it was saved for Alfie she took it. Hannah seemed surprised as two seats, two rows behind James were open. She shrugged and seated herself there, unknowing of her friends' mastermind plan.

James glared at Meg.

"What are you doing?" She held up a finger, signaling him to show patience as she watched the door. It opened and in walked Layla and Alfie. Layla quickly sprinted to sit in the third open seat with her other two roommates, as she'd planned earlier in the day. Alfie was left to sit with Hannah.

Meg grinned and winked at her friend, who was openly gaping at her. James cleared his throat, angrily waiting for an answer.

"Alfie likes Hannah." She turned and explained to James. He scowled.

"I know that."

"Did you know that Hannah likes Alfie back?" James gaped at her open mouthed and turned to see both his friend and Hannah blushing and glancing at each other inconspicuously.

"So what, you're setting them up?" James wasn't happy that his seatmate had been taken from him. Although he knew it was probably something Alfie didn't mind.

"Sort of." Meg shrugged. "I'm just giving them the opportunity to do it themselves really." James was grumpy the rest of the day.

Alfie was not.

"Can you cheer up?" Alfie joked with James at lunch time.

"Can you cheer down." He grumbled unhappily. Fred chortled.

"You are awfully happy Alf, what's up?" Alfie turned a brilliant shade of red and mumbled quietly.

"Uh, nothing." His friends snorted in disbelief.

"He sat next to Hannah Belby in double potions." James intoned to Fred. Fred's eyebrows rose high.

"The Slytherin with the huge ti-" Alfie cut him off, horrified.

"You better not finish that sentence." Fred chuckled at Alfie's half-threat. James crossed his arms in anger at his friends protectiveness over someone else.

"Or what? You'll blush at me." Fred teased with an evil grin. Alfie was quick to change the subject.

"Oi James, quit moping. You are still my best mate. Just because I like a girl doesn't mean she'll take your place." James felt slightly better at that, even though he knew Alfie was mainly taking the mickey.

"Sorry, it's just first Meg and now another Slytherin girl?" He sighed in annoyance.

"Suck it up." Alfie told him uncaringly. "Both girls are nice."

_James supposed Alfie was right, but still he disliked Slytherins. _

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><p><strong>Guys I'm back from Mexico with a tan, lighter hair and another update! Hope you liked this chapter. <strong>

**Please review? (Seriously it says 15 of you follow this story and 6 of you favorited it, but only 4 or 5 of you review.)**

**Thanks- Jenn**


	9. The First Quidditch Match

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**Extended Experience: And another shout out! I want to go to Canada some day just to see it, but I hate cold so I'd have to go in the summer... Halfie is probs the cutest thing! There will be more next chapter I think, not this one though.**

**I am Lara daughter of Hecate: I love love love you for reviewing! Glad you like it so far.**

**SamanthaRenee17: Well I have a friend who is pretty similar to Meg in the fact that she's just so incredibly sweet and it's hard not to adore her because she's a genuinely nice girl. Also I think everyone has a friend who is a bit blunt and hyper like Hannah, or you at least know someone similar. I'm not sure otherwise though. To picture things you'll just have to use your imagination, perhaps picture someone you know like one of the characters and change their features a bit to fit my characters? Thanks for the review! **

**Spannieren: You're fab! Thanks for reviewing. **

**Disclaimer - I don't own HP.**

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><p><em>Chapter 9: The First Quidditch Match<em>

James had awoken nervous, the first quidditch match of the season was today and it was Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Previous years James had been very excited to beat Slytherin into dust. Now he found himself hesitant and he blamed his new found friendship with Meg.

James' friendship with Meg was still new and since he enjoyed her company he was anxious that a fight woukd occur all because of a Quidditch match. James felt distraught and couldn't help but blame Meg for it. When she walked in and gave her usual perky 'Good morning!' James snapped back at her,

"Is it?" Meg was a little startled by his response to her greeting, but she smiled kindly at him anyway.

"Sure, we'll have a friendly, competitive game of quidditch. You're going down Potter!" Her chuckle made James feel entirely better about his worries.

"Please, Gryffindor will beat Slytherin into a pulp!" James jeered and stuffed bacon into his mouth. His previous nerves were slowly being forgotten.

Meg waved her goodbye to the boys wishing Fred and James "Luck." and clarifying after that she meant bad luck of course, with a wink. She'd only gone over to wish them a good morning and spew a few friendly insults. Both of these things caused James to feel increasingly better about the game.

After his team was ready James gave them his newly prepared pep talk.

"I don't care what team we're facing, all I care is we beat them." He eyed each teammate and added as an afterthought. "Oh, and use the techniques we went over in practice. Fool proof those are."

The team let a whoop as they exited the changing rooms. Fred clapped James on the back.

"Best before match speech ever." He winked and followed the rest of the team.

Upon entering the pitch the noise was deafening. The crowd was cheering, booing and screaming. Some people were clamoring excitedly about the game and other were just yelling to make noise. It was exhilarating.

"I want a nice, clean game." The very old Madam Hooch warned as she did each year. For once though, Slytherins and Gryffindors might listen. It wasn't entirely likely, but you never knew when competing Captains were friends. "Captains shake hands."

Meg and James grasped hands in a friendly matter, Meg winked at James and gave his palm a quick squeeze. Then hands were released and brooms were mounted. The whistle blew and the players took to the air, chasers zooming around with the quaffle almost immediately.

James and Fred sped around and protected their team. They stopped bludgers from colliding with teammates and propelled them to the threats on Slytherin team.

James was forced to keep hitting the bludger away from Al, as he was Flint's main target. James hit the bludger towards the back of Flint's head, hoping to get rid of the threat to his brother's life. Fred was aiming bludgers at Zabini, who kept ramming his full body into Caroline Creevey.

"Hey lay off my sister Zabini!" Chris called as he accepted the quaffle from Zabini and scored.

"Thanks bro!" Caroline snatched the quaffle after it'd been scored with and soared to the other side of the field and scored to a loud cheer in the green part of the crowd.

"Brother and sister competition down there folks." The commentator called over the crowd. Usually that kind of scene would cause James endless amounts of humor. However, James wasn't paying attention to any of that anymore.

"The snitch, Wood has seen the snitch!" That's where it all went wrong. Meg was diving for the snitch as Albus followed behind her, attempting to catch up to her.

Flint was an idiot; thats the first thought James had. The second was 'Shit' as he watched the bludger whizzing toward Meg's chest. His last thought was screamed aloud.

"NO!" James dived forward. Maybe he was ridiculously stupid, maybe he was too brave or maybe he had a death wish. Whatever it was, it caused him to fly his broom between Meg and the bludger hit by Flint the dumbass.

SMASH!

Blinding pain,

falling,

blackness.

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><p>"James you're such a sweet idiot." He'd heard the soft, humoured voice as his head swam, trying to escape the blackness. He awoke to blinding light, his hands flew to his eyes and covered them. He groaned.<p>

"Finally! You're awake!" Fred's voice was much too loud and caused James to clutch at his head and groan again. Another voice shushed Fred.

"Pomfrey said he almost got a concussion from the bludger."

"What happened?" James inquired in his confusion. He blinked, allowing his eyes to become used to the bright light. He saw his three friends seated beside him. Meg on one side, Fred and Alfie on the other. His brother was there too, standing at the end of his bed.

"Flint hit a bludger at me, but he miscalculated and it was flying straight at Meg. Then you decided to be incredibly dumb and jump in front of the bludger. It hit your bat and the bat smacked you in the head." Al explained with irritation. He took the seat beside Meg rather angrily.

"You're supposed to swing the bat mate." Fred informed him.

"It was very sweet of you to protect me." James grinned slightly at Meg's words. His headache had to be worth that sweet and caring look she fixated on him. "Plus all the Slytherins love you now. Heard you're invited to the celebratory party later." Meg's grin grew and James' turned into a scowl.

"Next time let it hit her." Fred whispered conspiratorially.

"Next time I'll aim it at her myself." James grumbled. He never liked losing a game of quidditch, plus his head was throbbing unbearably. He didn't think he could deal with the teasing his friends would want to lather upon him. Perhaps at a later time, but now all he could think of was his throbbing head. Luckily, Ms. Pomfrey came in at that moment and shooed the others out.

Ms. Pomfrey was the daughter of Madam Pomfrey, the nurse who'd been at school when James' dad had gone. Ms. Pomfrey was very similar to her mother judging by his fathers descriptions of her. Ms. Pomfrey was short, and had short brown hair that she kept in a loose bun, she had a right temper too. She always insisted on being referred to as Ms. as her mother had been Madam.

"You again." She huffed at James. He changed his mind, it wasn't so lucky that she'd come and scared off his friends. He'd prefer Meg's face over Pomfrey's snide remarks even if the latter meant his head would stop feeling as if it was splitting itself in half . "Drink this."

She stuffed a drink into his hands and watched him gulp it down quickly. James had learned never to let the awful medicines last and to always get rid of them as quick as possible. He made a face at the bitterness that managed to touch his tongue, but soon his head was cool and light. It no longer throbbed like a rave party was happening inside of it, this he was very thankful of.

"Sleep." Ms. Pomfrey ordered him.

"But-" James wanted to argue. He felt better and all he wanted to do was complain about quidditch to his friends.

"No buts, just snoring." Her look dared him to argue, he almost did. To be honest though, he was extremely tired and sleep did sound fantastic, even if he had just woken up. He closed his eyes and leaned back. Napping was always good.

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><p><strong>Hope you liked this chapter!<strong>

**Please review? **

**Thanks- Jenn**


	10. Another Prank

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**Disclaimer - I don't own HP.**

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><p><em>Chapter 10: Another Prank<em>

James was freed from the Hospital Wing on Sunday night, giving him enough time to do homework and not miss any classes. He wasn't nearly as excited about that as Ms. Pomfrey expected him to be.

Homework wasn't the only thing causing James to wish he was still in the Hospital Wing. All of Gryffindor house seemed angry with him and the Slytherins kept thanking him and slapping him on the back. A few of the thank yous were actually genuine as Meg's friends wanted him to know they appreciated him keeping her safe.

However worse was the teasing. James' teammates had somehow managed to enchant a beater's bat in each knight in the castles hand that they'd bang their head with when James walked past. He already had headache from the banging as he finally made it to potions class.

Since the last potions class, where Meg had stolen Alfie's seat, every potions class after she'd sit beside James and Alfie would sit with Hannah. James was growing accustomed to it and decided it wasn't so bad after all. Professor Boot loved Meg and she was excellent at potions, so sitting beside her gave James an advantage to the rest of the class.

Alfie was smart, he was brilliant and had gotten an O in potions last year, but Meg was equally, if not better at potions. It seemed to come naturally to her and she retained all the tips and information that Professor Boot said, easily. She was also more apt to help James with his potions than Alfie had been. Alfie enjoyed ignoring James and pretending he didn't exist during potions class, Meg gave him full attention. James loved attention.

Meg even answered the notes James would pass her. Something that thrilled him, because Alfie had always refused to even read the passed notes until after class had ended. Then Alfie would just respond face to face. What good was a passed note if it's not answered in note form too?

Wood, I'm bored.

_Potter we are in class._

Hence why I'm bored.

_Then put a dungbomb in Flint's cauldron._

That's brilliant!

And that's how James earned his second detention because of Meg, the first had been when he'd been searching for her after she'd stolen the map. He pouted after that and sent another note her way.

Now I have detention!

_Serves you right, you put a dungbomb in Flint's cauldron!_

James grinned at the notes as he reread them in detention later. Meg was beginning to grow on him. As much as he hated all things Slytherin, James couldn't bring himself to hate Meg. Even if she'd cost him a quidditch game, earned him two detentions and caused most of Gryffindor house to be angry with him. For some reason he wanted to spend more time with her instead of avoid her like he should.

Any new prank ideas?

He sent the note to both Fred and Meg. Meg's response was instant and Fred's came a few minutes after.

_Makeup on boys?_

_**Put guys in dresses, it'll mess with their egos.**_

James grinned at the similar ideas, his own blooming in his head. Perhaps a combination of the two…

"Mister Potter. Are you cleaning?" Professor Boot's voice cut through James thoughts.

"Of course Professor." He responded cheekily and returned to scraping guts off the potions tables. It was pranking time, after all Halloween was only two weeks away.

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><p>Mindie Burke was walking to meet up with her latest fling. A boy named something Perry or maybe it was Peanie? Either way, he was cute and had abs and that's all that really mattered to her. She turned the corner and there he stood.<p>

To her absolute horror he didn't look nearly as attractive as he should. His face was painted like the muggle clowns that she'd seen in muggle circus advertisement posters. His nose red, eyes covered in too much blue eye shadow, his lips a horrendous hot pink, skin pasty and cheeks bright fuscia. She let out a horrified shriek.

He was staring at her equally shocked and disgusted.

"What happened to your face?" She squealed in horror. He spoke at the same time as her.

"What are you wearing?"

Mindie glanced down at her school robes, only to see they weren't her school robes. She was dressed in a puce colored potato sack. Another scream filled the hallway.

"What's all the racke-" Meg had come around the corner and had to stifle her laughter. "Oh." She squeaked.

"What am I wearing?" Mindie wailed in dismay.

"Looks to be a potato sack." Meg answered smartly. Mindie wailed again and took off down the hall in terror.

Perry or Peanie ran after her calling behind her.

"Does this mean we aren't going to snog?"

Mindie had no clue what happened to her or Perry/Peanie, but she knew she didn't want anyone to see her like this. It was beyond embarrassing and she had a reputation to uphold.

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><p>Meg grinned after her cousin and the random guy she'd been with. She knew exactly what had happened to them, it had been cracking her up all day. Halloween was on Friday, two days away and she, Fred, and James had decided it was the perfect day for a prank. They'd cast a spell only three hours before on the exits to the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw common rooms. Any person to leave the Hufflepuff dorms would exit with a face of clown makeup and any person to exit the Ravenclaw dorm would exit with a horrid outfit, like Mindie's potato sack.<p>

Despite the fact that Mindie was Meg's cousin she felt no amount of guilt at seeing her so upset. Mindie and her two sisters; Maddie and Melanie had always been absolute terrors. Every family reunion or gathering the three girls would torment Meg until she was planning on choking one, hexing the other and setting the third on fire. She was glad that two of them would be walking around in potato sacks that day.

It was only around 7 in the morning, Meg suspected Mindie had been about to snog the Hufflepuff boy with the face of makeup, which is why she'd been awake so early. Meg had awoken at four to set the charms up with the boys and returned to sleep for only two hours before she found herself wide awake again. She'd decided to head down to the breakfast table, hoping other early morning risers would be there too.

Much to her great pleasure, a few extremely ridiculous Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were at their tables. The few early rising Gryffindors and Slytherins were sniggering to themselves. Meg skipped over to the Gryffindor table where James already sat.

"Hello." She said much too cheerily for 7:06 on a Wednesday morning. James grinned back just as awake and happy as she was.

"Good morning." He winked at her. She took the seat across from him and poured herself some pumpkin juice.

"How's your morning?"

"Oh, it's alright." James grin suggested that his morning was a fair bit more than just 'alright.' Meg sipped her juice before responding.

"Yeah, mines about the same I'd say." Her stifled giggles revealed her mood to be precisely like James'.

The two early risers sat, sipped juice, chatted and watched each new Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff enter the hall, their attire calling new found hilarity. The best reactions were when the victim hadn't noticed the problem with themselves until after they'd shrieked at a housemates appearances.

Alfie came down around 8 o'clock and instantly had to stifle his laughter, Fred didn't even pretend to attempt at hiding his loud guffaws when he entered the mostly filled Great Hall at 8:30.

The rest of the day seemed to go by quickly. Herbology with the Ravenclaws was a class of hilarity. The Biting Buttercups appeared to hate the Ravenclaw's horrid attire so much that they bit more and some even wilted. Even better was Double Charms with the Hufflepuffs. Any double period was usually dreaded, but from the moment Meg walked into the classroom she knew it couldn't be too bad.

Meg and her friends arrived early to class and seated themselves at the perfect vantage point. Professor Greening had missed breakfast that morning, as he normally did, taking in an extra hour of sleep and sneaking snacks through his first class. When the first painted face of a Hufflepuff entered his classroom he quite literally fell from his chair. He quickly jumped back up and gaped. Once the rest of the Hufflepuffs had gotten to class Professor Greening was much too stunned to pay full attention to the lesson.

There were many flying objects, whizzing every which way that class. Professor Greening hardly noticed as he tried to keep his eyes averted from the colorful faces so as not to laugh, the best way he could do this was by leaving the room or putting his head down on the desk. Altogether double charms was a breeze.

Lunch came next and the pranks were still just as funny as they had been all day. Meg, Fred and James high-fived whenever they saw people snickering at others appearances. A few Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws had somehow figured out how to escape the fate of their housemates. Dominique Weasley was one of them.

"Really? You couldn't have warned me first?" Dominique was a willowy copy of her mother, light french accent included.

"Sorry Dom, all are at risk of pranking." Fred claimed cheekily.

"Oh, Gryffindors too zen, huh?" She inquired angrily.

"Well…" James and Fred glanced hesitantly at each other.

"Of course! I helped prank Slytherin so we'll do Gryffindor next. It's only fair." Meg informed Dominique much to James and Fred's chargin.

"What?" Both boys yelped. Meg gave them a stern gaze. James gave in immediately.

"Alright, alright." He raised his hands in surrender. Fred pouted and didn't agree. Of course he didn't disagree either. Dominique left the table satisfied, she tripped over the flat ground and cursed in French.

"She may be 1/8th veela, but I think she's the most klutzy thing ever." James mused. Meg giggled before smacking him lightly on the arm.

"Oi, be nice."

Transfiguration wasn't nearly as fun as the previous classes, being only Slytherins and filled with a long lecture and note taking. Meg's hand was cramped by the time she got to a double period of History of Magic. That was even worse than Transfiguration, even with the Ravenclaws.

When class ended Meg didn't get the satisfaction of returning to her dorm with her mates, or going to meet James, Fred and Alfie in the library. Instead her and Hannah made their way down to the Quidditch Pitch for practice. They chatted awhile.

"How's it going with you and Alfie?" Meg watched Hannah's grin come to her face.

"I think I'm getting somewhere. I was able to make him blush four times last potions class." Meg giggled and opened the door to the changing rooms, ushering Hannah in.

"Quidditch time!" Meg cheered. Hannah let out a loud groan.

"I hate Wednesday practices." She moaned again. Meg scowled at her playfully.

"Watch it, I might kick you off the team."

"Or blow me up?" Hannah suggested helpfully.

"Or that." Meg winked as the two girls grabbed their clothes to change in to.

.

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><p><strong>Hope you liked this chapter!<strong>

**Please review? **

**Thanks- Jenn**


	11. The Great Blaise Zabini

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**Extended Experience: Since you didn't review again, I'm obviously not giving you a shout out or telling you how awesome you are and how excited about Halfie in the next chapter i am. I'm totally not telling you that Halfie progresses LARGELY in the next chapter, nope. Not me. **

**k: glas you thought so! I was hoping that would be getting across. **

**SamanthaRenee17: Yes well don't worry more action is coming... **

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**Hashi: Thanks for the review. Actually, if you reread the chapter where Meg picks her team for quidditch, you'll see that Scorpius is one of the people she picks, he also has been mentioned and even had a couple lines in the story already. I do plan on making both him and Lily bigger characters later on. Rose will also be in the story, but all of them are younger than James and aren't the main focus of this story. James is the main character. Also I've had some Lily parts already too. There will be more of them though!**

**Disclaimer - I don't own HP.**

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><p><em>Chapter 11: <em>The Great Blaise Zabini

Meg ended practice 15 minutes later than normal and by the time the team had changed and cleaned up it was already 5:40. Dinner was 20 minutes away and Meg knew James would be waiting for her. It was their new thing, waiting for eachother. Alfie didn't appreciate quidditch as much as Meg and James so he could care less how their practices went. Fred had other friends to attend to, or so he claimed whenever the two would begin their rants on running a whole quidditch team. Leaving James and Meg to walk with each other alone.

"Hey Meg!" Blaise called after her before she could go very far.

"Oh, hey Blaise." She smiled kindly at him and waited for him to catch up to her. Blaise fell into step beside her.

"Walk to the castle with me?" Meg knew James would be waiting somewhere nearby for her, but she did want to talk with Blaise.

"Actually I already have a walking buddy, but maybe you could join us?" She invited and crossed her fingers behind her back. Blaise agreed to amicably, causing a grin to overtake Meg's face.

"So any clue who pranked the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs? It was humorous I'll admit." Meg winked.

"No clue." Was her response. The two chatted and started back to the castle. Meg glanced around for James, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Meg, I was wonderi-" Blaise had started to ask a question. Meg hoped she knew what that question was, she hoped that the question was going to make her incredibly happy. Unfortunately before she could discover the nature of the inquiry, another voice interrupted.

"Meg! You walked straight past me and I didn't even notice, saw the back of your head and reali-" James was jogging up beside them. His voice and manner changed quickly from friendly to disgusted. "Oh, Zabini."

He viewed Blaise with the look someone gives a piece of gum stuck to their shoe.

"Potter." Blaise peered at James from over his nose self-importantly.

"Blaise this is my walking partner." Meg laughed nervously noticing the two boys' instant animosity towards each other. Blaise glanced at James once more before yanking the entrance door open, holding it for Meg.

"I'll see you around Meg." He winked and made off. Meg glanced back at James who'd just managed to catch the door before it smacked him in the face.

"You have the worse timing!" Meg exclaimed, not exactly angry, but definitely exasperated.

"Sorry?" James' question was ignored as Meg huffed and looped her arm through his.

"I'm starved, practice was grueling." The two chatted quidditch and nothing but all the way to dinner and through most of dinner as well. That is until Alfie let out a loud strangled noise from his throat and claimed;

"There is such thing as too much quidditch and you two passed it around twenty minutes ago."

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><p>James had awoken still buzzed with happiness from yesterdays pranking success and his long chat on quidditch with Meg. Quidditch always left James in a better mood. Thursdays were rather boring and it was going normally as ever for James. The spells on Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs had worn off, breakfast and divination were boring and Free Period was full of lounging around and pretending to work. At the end of free period, he'd walked down to wait for Meg at her classroom and together they and Alfie bagan traipsing to potions.<p>

"Hey Meg." Zabini called out loudly, waving his hand at her. Meg tittered shyly and wiggled her fingers back at him. This shocked both James and Alfie, considering Meg was not a shy girl and she didn't titter. Zabini was striding over to the group smoothly. He ignored both James and Alfie with a sort of vengeance. James supposed that it was better than the staring match they'd had the afternoon before.

"Hey Blaise, what's up?' She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and fluttered her eyelashes slightly. James eyebrows rose in surprise, he exchanged a look with Alfie who appeared just as baffled.

"Chris got detention this Saturday and can't go to Hogsmeade, so it looks as if I'll be going alone." Zabini sighed, mock sadly. James and Alfie frowned, and wondered why Zabini thought that Meg would care about his Hogsmeade plans.

"What a shame." The smile pulling at Meg's lips suggested she didn't really believe it was such a shame at all.

"Unless," Zabini spoke slowly as if the idea had just come to him. "perhaps you're free and want to go with me?" At this suggestion James and Meg had two very different reactions. A huge scowl split James face and he was ready to tell Zabini exactly what he could do on his Hogsmeade weekend. Meg's voice beat James' though.

"It's funny you ask, my plans were just cancelled and I was looking for someone to fill them." Meg bit her lip and tucked another curl behind her ear.

"Perfect. See you at nine thirty then?" Zabini grinned with satisfaction.

"In front of the Great Hall." Meg confirmed with a wink, Zabini swaggered off to Potions ahead of them.

"I thought you were coming to Zonkos with us!" James voice was outraged and he attempted clearing it, hoping neither of his friends would notice. Judging by the snigering coming from Alfie, that was unlikely. James couldn't help it though, he and Meg had been becoming good friends and he felt jealous to have to share her already.

"I'll meet up with you after the date." Meg shrugged it off. James glared at the floor and shuffled his feet forward. The three made their way to potions.

"What time will that be?" James muttered moodily.

"How about one, I'll meet you in The Three Broomsticks and we can go to Zonkos after?" James perked up slightly at the mention of Zonkos, but still had a small pout on his face when he finally gave consent to the plan. Meg shared a grin with Alfie, it was no secret how possessive James got over his friends and definitely an understatement to say he disliked Blaise Zabini II.

"Awe. Jamie don't be jealous, you're still my number one guy." Meg leaned forward and kissed James' cheek before skipping into the potions classroom. James strutted in happier now, he was Meg's number one guy. Maybe it was only as a friend, but he was better than Zabini. It didn't even matter that she'd been half-joking when she'd said it.

"Good morning Professor!" Mag sang before taking her seat. Zabini, who'd gotten to class a few moments earlier turned and winked at Meg.

"Good morning Miss Wood." Professor Boot rolled his eyes at his cheery student, but managed a smile all the same. Professor Boot was a kind, but stern teacher. He'd always been rather good at potions when he'd gone to school and he'd found he was even better at teaching the subject. Meg was one of his favorite students, being one of the few that brought sunshine to the classroom with her 100 watt smile. Plus her potion making was adept and she listened to his advice well.

James slid into the seat beside Meg and glared at Zabini, who was still making eyes at Meg. Alfie chuckled knowingly at his friend and took the seat behind him and beside Hannah Belby.

"Today we will be making-" James had already tuned Professor Boot out, an impressive feat as he'd barely said five words to the class. James didn't care much about how mincing leaves was better than crushing them or any other tips that Professor Boot had for them. James was stuck in a pattern of glaring at the back of Zabini's head or gazing at Meg.

Meg was diligently scrawling down notes and hanging onto every word the Professor spoke. James should've been reflecting similar actions, but was too distracted by the way Meg pushed her dark curls out of her heart shaped face. He was too distracted by the way Meg's eyes were entirely focused on the lesson, lighting up in understanding. Or by Meg's hand with long fingers, that wrote smoothly. Or by her handwriting itself, unfurling across her parchment in neat loops, the letters n, m and e curling with extra flourishes. James found it rather endearing, really.

A cough from behind James interrupted his peaceful thoughts, a glance behind him revealed it wasn't a cough at all. It was a snigger. A snigger coming from James' so called best friend. Alfie sat smirking at James pointedly, he chucked a piece of crumpled parchment at James' face. surprising James as Alfie did not pass notes in class. James caught it before it could smack him in the nose. He turned back to face the front, while unfolding it.

'You've got drool on your chin'

James turned to glare at Alfie and chucked the note back at him. Alfie had begun sniggering again as James attempted to inconspicuously wipe at his chin with his robe sleeve.

"Potter?" James heard his name echo throughout the classroom in a question. He glanced up and noticed Professor Boot looking at him expectantly. It was obvious the Professor hadn't noticed James lack of attention to the lesson, or perhaps he did notice and this was his way of reprimanding him. Either way James had no idea what Professor Boot's inquiry had been and since he hadn't paid any attention to the whole lesson he couldn't make something up that would be close enough.

"Wormwood." Meg's soft whisper brought relief to James.

"Uh, Wormwood. Professor." James called out loudly. Professor Boot nodded happily, satisfied with the correct answer.

"Very good Mr. Potter, five points to Gryffindor." He turned around and continued his short lecture. James still was tuning him out, despite being put on the spot a mere six seconds ago.

'Thank you.' He mouthed to Meg, she simply smiled and shook her head fondly in response. James felt his temper about Zabini slowly slip away with that little smile. Honestly, no one could stay mad at Meg when she had those perfect teeth, surrounded by pink, pink lips and her bright, bright blue eyes.

"Alright you can get started now. It's a quick potion so you should have plenty of time. Work with the person next to you to speed up the process." James glanced at the clock and saw that only ten minutes had gone by, they still had thirty-five before the bell rung. James almost groaned, but was stopped by Meg speaking.

"I'm guessing you have no clue what we're doing, so I'll get materials. Flip to page 347 in our books." She gracefully stood and trailed over to the supplies closet. James opened his textbook to page 347 just as he'd been told to do. He shoved the book to the front, center of his and Meg's connected desk. Meg returned with the ingredients and began giving James orders, divvying up the work.

They poured over the textbook together, James only leaning in when she did, after all he didn't need to read the directions when Meg kept giving him step-by-step instructions. Besides instructions, Meg gave James different tricks to making the potion more potent. James couldn't say he cared much about the potions aspect and learning, but he quite enjoyed when Meg would lean over and take his hands in her own.

"No do it more like this. There ya go!" Meg guided his rough hands with her soft ones, chopping the pixie leafs into diamonds rather than rectangles. James would mess it up when Meg let his hands go on purpose, just so her long smooth fingers would clasps his again. He got the large satisfaction of seeing Zabini glance toward them every so often and glare at James. The whole reason James continued to mess up was to anger Zabini.

Meg shook her head at him. "Are you messing up on purpose?" Her voice was a squawk of indignation and suspicion. James shrugged.

"Oops?" He suggested with a grin. Meg jokingly glared at him.

"You're wasting valuable time, do it yourself." James snickered until Meg hit him upside the head with her hand. "Smart arse." She muttered to him.

"Oops." He offered again, earning himself another smack upside the head.

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><p><strong>Exciting HannahAlfie progress next chapter! Plus more insight on Zabini... kind of. **

**Please review? **

**Thanks- Jenn**


	12. Face-Offs and Face-ons

**Thank you for favoriting/alerting!**

**Extended Experience: Well since you don't know about the exciting Halfie coming up in this chapter then you definitely don't know that the ending of this chapter may cause slight squealing. Also I'm not thanking you for not reviewing, you know since you didn't review... oh man this is getting more and more confusing every time, I mean it's not?**

**SamanthaRenee17: In that case I appreciate each review even more then before! Glad you're enjoying the story.**

**Hashi: That's alright I understand completley! I've been totally out've it this week since I had vaca last week and now I have slight jet lag and vaca brain. Thank you for another review! I'm glad you like my characters, I like them too. OH I'VE GOT GREAT AL/JAMES STUFF WRITTEN FOR LATER! I shouldn't say more... but I promise that Lily and Al will both tease James lots.**

**Disclaimer - I don't own HP.**

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><p><em>Chapter 12: Face-offs and Face-ons (Wow, really dumb, but it makes me laugh, so...)<em>

Saturday had finally come, Meg had been looking forward to it since Thursday before potions. Every student waited for Hogsmeade weekends impatiently, but ones with dates made the minutes pass by even slower than usual. Halloween hadn't been very exciting, just another day of classes. The teachers had attempted to come up with 'cool' and 'fun' activities that were Halloween related for the students. Meg hadn't been impressed. The feast had been it's normal large and impressive thing, causing Meg to not exactly care about that either.

But finally, finally it was Saturday.

James had walked over to Meg at the Slytherin table. She had attempted to tame her wild hair, although there wasn't much you could do about curls and she had given herself a small amount of eyeliner. Her outfit was flattering, a v-neck dark blue jumper on top of tight black jeans with boots.

"How do I look?" She asked him panicky. James was confused by her sudden interest in her appearance and how she'd barely greeted him.

"Beautiful." He shrugged as the truth slipped from his mouth.

"Really?" Meg let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you. I hope you have fun at Hogsmeade." She jumped up from her seat and kissed James cheek before going off to where Blaise was waiting for her outside of the doors.

Her date was fun. Blaise and Meg started off chatting about quidditch, something Meg could go on for hours about honestly. At some point Blaise must've grown bored of that subject because he quickly moved on to potions. They eventually moved on from school as a subject and talked about their family and friends, telling hilarious stories.

"He didn't?" Meg snorted in joy as the two left their fifth shop that day.

"I swear he did." Blaise promised with a returned laugh. Meg glanced at the time and saw it was already one ten. James was going to be angry. Luckily she was almost at the Three Broomsticks now. She let out a sigh.

"I had a lot of fun." She started.

"Date doesn't have to end yet." Blaise told her. Meg sighed again.

"I promised James and Alfie that I'd meet up with them at one." Blaise's face fell and he scrunched his nose in disgust.

"Potter?" Meg nodded.

"Yeah, we're friends." She informed him, although she was sure he already was aware of the fact.

"Hm." Instead of really acknowledge the information Zabini leaned in and kissed Meg.

They stood in the cold, breath intermingling right out front the Three Broomsticks. Meg felt Zabini deepen the kiss, his mouth opening, she reciprocated quickly. Her hands went to his jacket and pulled him into her. He pulled away then, a huge smirk on his face.

"You'll go on another date with me?" It was more a statement than a question.

"Yeah." Meg felt slightly breathless.

"How about a picnic on Wednesday for lunch?" She nodded at his suggestion.

"Sounds perfect." He winked and waved.

"See you around Meg."

"Yeah." She reiterated. Blaise's back disappeared as he turned a corner. Meg let a grin overtake her face and she stood for a little longer in the cool air.

"You're late." The voice was colder than the air. Meg whipped around, coming face to face with James.

"Sorry, I lost track of the time." Meg apologized genuinely as she wondered how long James had been standing there behind her. He didn't say anything, all he did was shrug and start into The Three Broomsticks. Meg followed quickly. "I really am sorry."

She told him, but still got no answer.

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><p>James stood outside of the Slytherin dorms waiting for Meg impatiently. He tapped his foot and glanced at his watch. Meg had forgotten her potions book and ran back to get it, James offered to walk back with her and was now despairing. He felt as if Meg had been gone an hour, in actuality it had only been two and a half minutes.<p>

The Slytherin Common Room door swung out, James face eagerly glanced up, hoping for Meg. His face morphed into a quick scowl when it wasn't Meg. It was Zabini. James glanced back down at his watch, prepared to ignore Zabini completely.

"Stay away from Meg." The voice hissed, spitting like a real snake might.

"Excuse me?" James glanced up at Zabini incredulously.

"She's not yours. She's my girlfriend, so back off." James' patience with Zabini was always short, but he felt it ebbing away faster than normally. He tried grasping the last strings of calm he could, but they were yanking away powerfully. Deep breaths he told himself.

"So what?" His voice was cold and it took a lot of strength not to pull his wand on the slimy git. James clenched his hand in a fist, knowing Meg wouldn't appreciate her boyfriend ending up in the Hospital Wing.

"So you're a Gryffindor. Meg deserves better than the likes of you and you know it." Zabini spat the words out menacingly. James hand went to his pocket, grasping his wand. He took another deep breath, stopping himself from pulling the weapon out.

"I'm better than some pureblood supremacist that imagines himself superior because his daddy won best smile award in Witch Weekly." James was rather proud of his insult. Zabini clenched his teeth and hissed at James again.

"Like I said she's not your girlfriend. So stay aw-" James laughed humorlessly.

"She isn't yours either, but she is my friend." Zabini suddenly appeared triumphant as he spoke the next words.

"But I get to kiss her Potter and let me tell you, she's a fantastic snog." Zabini stalked off with his evil smirk. James growled and turned to punch the wall behind him after Zabini was out of sight. It's been hard enough to watch that slime kiss Meg outside The Three Broomsticks the day before, let alone hear more about it.

"What did the wall ever do to you Jamie." Meg teased as she skipped over to him, potions book in hand. James didn't answer, but followed her. Meg stuffed her book in her bag before grabbing for James hand. She brought them to a halt as she examined James throbbing pink knuckles.

"I'm fine." James muttered, knowing what she was thinking. She giggled at that and shook her head.

"No, but you will be once I heal this." Meg's wand was in her hand before James could protest. She tapped his knuckles, they felt like they'd been doused in icy water for a brief moment. The throbbing pain dwindled away, leaving James' hand as good as new.

He smiled at Meg and thanked her. He wasn't sure how she managed, but she turned his bad mood to sunshine in a mere second. She always seemed to do that. Skipping into the rain falling over your head and dragging the rainbow behind her, forcing the storm away. With a sigh James looped his arm in Meg's and walked with her to potions.

Her usual smile was so bright. James decided he wouldn't tell her about Zabini, there was no need to ruin her good mood. No reason to cause problems just because James hated Zabini. Meg was happy and that's all that mattered.

Upon arriving at potions, James noticed Alfie and Hannah were already sat together. James sent Meg a knowing look. She winked as they took the seats in front of their friends.

"Did you have fun with Chris yesterday?" Meg turned in her seat and asked Hannah innocently.

"Chris Creevey was known to be a whiz in Transfiguration and Hannah was awful at the subject, to put it kindly. She nodded.

"Yeah, actually he was really enlightening." Hannah was excited about finally understanding a new theory. Alfie didn't know this however. His face was slowly turning redder at the girls' discussion.

"Oh, I bet." Meg winked at Hannah and turned in her seat as Professor Boot began the lesson. James grinned at the flash of anger and pure jealousy on his friend's face. He glanced over to Meg to see a rather evil smirk. Cunning Slytherin down to her last bone.

When potion brewing began, Alfie immediately offered to grab the supplies for Hannah. He returned to their shared desk and offered her his help a few moments later. Meg was grinning wider and wider at the obvious flirting Alfie was initiating. Hannah was very confused to begin with, but unashamedly flirted back just as bad.

Meg pointed her wand under her desk and muttered a spell. Hannah's cauldron exploded and she let out a loud scream. The potion only landed on Hannah, causing her skin to begin turning blue. She squeaked in horror.

"Mister Jordan would you please lead Miss Belby to the Hospital Wing." Alfie jumped up from his seat.

"Of course Professor." He offered his arm to the still squawking Hannah. She gratefully accepted and together they left the room. When the door clicked shut behind them, Meg melted into a puddle of giggles. James began guffawing soon after, his laughter stirring with hers. Their intermingling laughter caused others to join in. Layla was holding back her own giggles as she turned to fix Meg with a glare.

"You did that, didn't you." Her accusation was a whisper. Meg blinked innocently at her best friend.

"Who, me? Don't you think James is more likely to pull a stunt like that?" James spluttered in half humour and half indignation.

"I know it was you, trying to play matchmaker. Honestly-"

"Succeeding in being matchmaker, actually." Meg informed her two friends with a grin. "By the end of the day those two will be together."

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><p>Alfie escorted the blue splotched Hannah to the Hospital Wing. She was frowning to herself.<p>

"What's wrong?" He inquired surveying her face with concern.

"You mean beside the blue skin?" Hannah brought a laugh bubbling from Alfie's chest. He nodded waiting for her to continue. "I'm trying to figure out what I did wrong. I swear I followed the directions precisely."

Alfie snickered at her concern. Here she was turning blue and she was worrying about what she'd done wrong.

"You don't have to walk me all the way down. I'm not hurt." Hannah said it bluntly.

"Oh, right. I don't mind." Alfie was hesitant. "That is if you don't mind me using you to miss class." Hannah giggled.

"Of course not. I'd probably do the same." The two walked in silence for a few moments. "So, do you think I can pull off the blue skin?"

Hannah gave Alfie a very serious face. He was prepared to answer back jokingly, but somehow the truth sprang from his lips before he could stop it."

"Actually, you still look rather pretty. You always are beautiful, so I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise really." Hannah came to a screeching stop and gaped at him.

Hannah had always been rather outgoing, so it wasn't as much of shock as someone might expect when she leaned in and kissed Alfie. He reciprocated thoroughly. There lips mashed together. The kiss was warm and slow, but rough and wild.

Alfie never imagined that he'd kiss a girl in the middle of a corridor, when they were supposed to be in class and while her skin was slowly turning pale blue, but maybe that's what made the kiss so spectacular. So full of Hannah. She always surprised him and Alfie quite liked surprises, especially when it meant her blue lips were melting into his.

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><p><strong>HALFIE! and MegBlaise?**

**Let me know what you think please!**

**Thanks- Jenn**


	13. Disagreements and Lies

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**Extended Experience: hahaha I knew you'd enjoy it! I'll fit more Halfie in every once and awhile, don't worry**

**SamanthaRenee17: I thought the last scene would be a hit! **

**K: It's not her fault she thinks he's cute! It's alright I've got it all planned out, but you're probs gonna really hate Blaise Zabini II very easily. **

**Snuffles4Eva: I think it's so awesome that you like my story because I read one of yours too! I update this story pretty fast because I kind of love writing it... also I've written a good portion of it already so all I do is edit it and then post. I'm sorry about your crashed computer, hope it begins working again soon. **

**Disclaimer - I don't own HP.**

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><p><em>Chapter 13: <em>Disagreements and Lies

Blaise was already seated in the shade by a couple of trees. Meg noticed that the tree she, Fred and James usually occupied was empty. It made her a little sad. She reminded herself that it was a rather chilly autumn day after all, not many people would be outside. She was bundled in her jumper, jeans, boots and Slytherin scarf and she still found herself shivering when the cool breeze blew.

She was distracted from her thoughts on the weather by Blaise's greeting. Her stomach was flipping and fluttering at his perfect smile and offered hand. She took it and allowed him to pull her into a seated possession beside him on the green blanket.

"Hey." She grinned shyly at him and ran her hand over the soft blanket that he'd laid out. They sat beside each other a little nervously. Both excited and terrified for the date, but not wanting the other to know about it.

"Have you had a good week so far?" Blaise's voice was too formal and he cursed himself for it. He's always been suave and easy going on dates. It had never been a problem for him before, but Meg had such an energy about her. An aura that made his hands sweat and stomach flutter. He wasn't sure he liked the feeling very much, he felt sort of nauseous from it.

"Brilliant, I already finished our potions essay and I had waffles for breakfast." Her energetic response startled a chuckle from Blaise. She was strange, but in a good sort of way he supposed. After all her beauty couldn't be matched by many and everyone loved her. "You?"

She asked it kindly and he thought for a moment. He was the brooding kind, it made girls fall at his feet as he'd discovered.

"Fair." He started. He debated whether or not to speak the next part. "Potter and I got in a small spat the other day, but other than that it's been normal."

He waited and viewed her face, attempting to predict her reaction He expected her to be much more put out then she was. Her head was shaking and her face was one of amusement.

"A spat?" Her question was hesitant. Blaise continued with a nod.

"Nothing big." Zabini rolled his eyes. "Potter just demanded I stay away from you." Meg giggled now and shook her head again, fondly.

"Yeah, James is a little possessive of his friends. He's not good at sharing." She informed Blaise. He frowned slightly at that, he'd been hoping for a larger reaction from Meg. Potter was an annoyance that he really wanted to rid himself of. Plus, he seemed like a distraction to Meg from Blaise. Blaise wanted Meg and Potter was in the way.

"He does realize that you two are only friends, right?" He hadn't meant to snap it. He immediately regretted doing so when he saw Meg's slight frown.

"Of course he does." Blaise let out a small sigh of relief and put on his smooth voice. It was his fixing things voice.

"I'm sorry, I just really like you." He stared at his hands theatrically. Meg melted like putty.

"No worries, I'm on a second date with you, aren't I?" She pointed out with a smile. He grinned and leaned in very slowly.

"You are." His lips met hers gently. Her lips pushed back briefly. He pulled away, staying a breath away from her.

"Maybe we could make a third date?"

"Why don't we talk when this one is done." He nodded, knowing he'd won.

The rest of the date went smoothly. The nerves from before had dissipated and they talked freely.

By the end of the date Meg had agreed to another and after that one another. They were going on around two dates a week, so after their sixth date, Meg agreed to more of a commitment. The conversation was quick, but made her feel gooey on the inside.

"Last night was fun." The voice was a whisper in her ear. She turned to grin at him.

"It was." She agreed.

"All six dates were fun." Blaise went on, she nodded. "Maybe we should make this a regular thing?"

"Oh?" She didn't want to get her hopes up too high.

"Be my girlfriend?" It was more of a demand, but Meg didn't mind.

"Sure." He kissed her full on the lips before winking and gliding off.

Meg and her friends had squealed for a good few hours about the event.

* * *

><p>"Hey James." Her voice came from behind him, startling him. He turned quickly to face her.<p>

"Hullo Meg." James quickly grinned at her.

"Game tomorrow, you wanna go with me?" James nodded, he'd never miss a chance at talking quidditch with Meg.

"Zabini didn't want to go?" Meg sighed before responding.

"Nah, claims nothing about a Ravenclaw vs Hufflepuff game could be exciting. Plus he's more into playing the game then watching." James understood that partially. Playing Quidditch was one of the most exciting things in his life, however watching games was just as interesting. He knew Meg felt the same way.

"Well, this way we can talk tactics without interruptions." He suggested. Meg giggled knowing fully what distractions James was referring to.

When Zabini and Meg were in a room together there was never much conversation going. The only sound between them was that of sucking each other's faces. James found it rather disgusting, but since Meg usually stopped when he came to talk to her, he'd allow it. However, he wouldn't tell Meg that…. again. The first and last time ended with him receiving a new haircut. Meg had made him bald for a whole day.

James had learned never to tell Meg that he was allowing her to do something. She did what she wanted, when she wanted apparently.

"I'm supposed to meet Blaise in the library at ten." Meg glanced at her watch.

"I'll walk you there." James suggested.

"Thanks." Meg smiled and started walking toward the library. "You're being very supportive of me dating Blaise, considering you hate each other." Meg seemed to be trying to hint at something. James shrugged.

"I don't like Zabini, but hey you're happy right?" Meg nodded with a grin.

"I am." After another moment of silence she spoke again. "You know it's funny. Blaise told me that you and him got in a bit of a spat a couple weeks ago." James felt shocked.

"He mentioned that to you then?" She nodded. "Wow, I'm surprised he'd tell you.

"Why?" Meg appeared thoroughly confused.

"I just wouldn't think he'd want you to know that he threatened me and yelled at me to leave you alone." Meg frowned now and stopped walking.

"What did he do?" James stopped too.

"Uh… he told me to stay away from his girlfriend." Meg's frown increased.

"Oh. I think you both must've had a misunderstanding." It was James' turn to be confused now. Meg had begun walking again and James was following slowly beside her.

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, he told me that you'd said the same. You know, minus the girlfriend part." James gaped and appeared completely astonished.

"You're joking?" He demanded, Meg shook her head in answer. "Meg, I swear upon the map that Zabini started it and-"

"Meg!" Her name was yelled by the one person James was currently despising more than anyone else.

"Hey Blaise." The two kissed, James noticed it was shorter than normal, as Meg pulled away and glanced back at James questioningly. He shrugged in response.

"Why don't you go get a table, I need to stop by the loo." Meg agreed and waved to James before entering the library. Zabini followed James a few steps in silence until he stopped abruptly and snarled.

"Potter." James spun around in shock. He wasn't sure why he expected Zabini to actually go to the bathroom.

"What Zabini?" He spoke with a suffering sigh in his voice, hoping Zabini would understand that James did not want to chat.

"What did I say about staying away from Meg?" James clenched his fist.

"Sorry, I've heard another version of our encounter that you told Meg, so I'm not exactly sure what actually happened anymore."

Zabini yanked out his wand and pointed it at James. James froze, eyeing Zabini's wand.

"Wanna put that away? I have a feeling your girlfriend would be rather upset if you hurt her best friend." Zabini snarled and sparks flew from his wand.

"I mean it Potter. Wood is mine. You lose. Stay away." Zabini spun around to leave, but James always had a problem keeping his mouth shut.

"I haven't lost Zabini. You aren't much competition if we were competing. Meg would choose me in a heartbeat." James had no doubt in his words. Meg had only just started dating this random guy and sure she and James had only become friends a few months before, but still. Zabini spun around and opened his mouth to cast a spell.

"What is going on?" James almost groaned at the shrill voice. He hoped he couldn't get in trouble for standing in a hallway, but you never knew with Molly Weasley. She'd give James a detention for merely breathing.

"Nothing, Mol." He reassured her, however her beady eyes immediately locked onto Zabini's wand.

"Are you dueling in the halls again James, because I swear to Merlin-"

"I don't even have my wand out!" James let out an exasperated swear. Molly glanced at James' hands and upon finding it true spun around to face Zabini.

"What do you think you're doing Zabini?"

"Potter provoked me." He claimed quickly.

"I have no doubt, however his wand isn't points from Slytherin and a detention tonight." Zabini hissed and stuffed his wand into his robes.

"I can't tonight." Molly fixed her sternest look upon him.

"Oh? Why's that?" Zabini puffed his chest out importantly.

"I have a date." Molly snorted. James found himself loving his cousin for once in his life.

"Should've thought of that before breaking the rules." Molly walked off importantly. Zabini huffed before turning and stomping back to the library.

James decided that Molly wasn't as bad as he and Fred had thought. He needed to share this news with the others.

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><p>Blaise had been gone fifteen minutes. Surely it didn't take that long to whiz. Meg was beginning to worry when he finally threw himself across from her. He appeared angry.<p>

"Are you okay? You were gone for a long-" Zabini interrupted her.

"Potter started a duel with me in the hall after you left. Claimed that you'd brought up the fact that I'd told you of our spat." Meg's mouth widened. "Then Molly Weasley came and gave me detention for tonight."

"Try to ignore James in detention if you share one, I know that you guys don't get along an-" Zabini spoke over her again.

"Potter didn't get detention. All because his cousin caught us. How unfair, huh?" Meg frowned, but nodded to Zabini's satisfaction. She pretended to continue the work she'd started before he'd entered. Meg knew Molly was a strict follower of the rules and Fred and James were her main targets to pour punishments upon. She'd seen Molly give James detention for falling in the hallway, claimed he was causing "a theatrical ruckuss". It didn't make sense for her to punish Blaise and not James.

Zabini leaned in to start their normal snog session, but Meg pulled away. At his upset and surprised look she made an excuse for herself.

"Sorry, I just remembered that I have to go ask Professor Longbottom a question on the paper he assigned. I have to go now or he won't help me." Although not strictly true, Meg did have a question for Professor Longbottom and she thought that moment was a perfect time to go ask it. She didn't know what to think about Zabini's story. It had to be untrue. She'd ask James for his side later she decided.

After seeing Professor Longbottom, Meg found James. She took no time beating around the bush.

"What happened between you and Blaise earlier?" She waited patiently as James explained, telling her what he'd said. She wasn't shocked to hear that James had taunted Blaise, but she was shocked to discover Blaise had lied to her. She figured it must be another misunderstanding. There was no other explanation, besides one she didn't care to think about.

She went to sleep still stewing over Blaise's lies. Why would he falsify his story, why did he go to attack James in the first place. Meg decided that boys would be boys and when it came to James and Blaise she wouldn't get in the middle and she wouldn't take sides. She liked both boys and didn't want to lose either relationship.

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><p>"What's wrong with you?"<p>

"Go away Al." James groaned into the pillow his face was stuffed into at the moment.

"I would, but it's my turn with the cloak, so hand it over." Al stood at the end of James' bed and slightly behind him was Scorpius, who waited patiently. James groaned again, but rose and walked to the chest at the end of his bed.

"Why do you need it?" He asked his brother suspiciously. "Are you planning on causing mischief tonight?" Al shrugged.

"It's not really your business James." This of course peaked James' interest even more than before.

"If you don't tell me, I won't hand it over." James grinned, thinking he had his brother caught. Al rolled his eyes.

"We'll just petrificus totalus you." Scorpius nodded from behind Al.

"Come on James, don't make us do that." James narrowed his eyes at his little brother.

"If you do, I'll tell Lily about who actually broke her glass snitch from Aruba." The two boys shared a guilty look, remembering the day that they'd broken the object in question. Never let fireworks loose in your bedroom.

"Alright, fine you nosy prick." Al mumbled. "We are sneaking into the Ravenclaw dorms to borrow a couple items that may cause some of their quidditch team to panic." James frowned at his brother.

"Why?" Scorpius blushed a little and responded.

"Two reasons really." Al nodded and finished.

"One because Roxie's ex is in Ravenclaw and she's paying us 5 galleons and two because Scorpius saw Lily getting picked on by Ralph Fawley." James scowled at the last words.

"I hate Fawley. He's the worse kind of Ravenclaw. Thinks he's smarter than everyone and teases people because of it. I'm coming with you." Scorpius and Al didn't even attempt to argue. If James put his mind to something he was going to do it.

Ralph Fawley woke up the next morning to discover all of his clothes and personal belongings had gone missing. Upon wandering around the school in his underwear he finally discovered his items were hanging from the towers of the castle. It took him ages to get them down.

.

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><p><strong>What do you think of Zabini now? <strong>

**Thanks- Jenn**


	14. Are You A Wizard Or Not?

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**Extended Experience: lol you getting sassy at Zabini? **

**SamanthaRenee17: wait until you read this chapter... your dislike for Zabini will grow. I promise.**

**Snuffles4Eva: Usually I take 5ever to update (haha). Siriusly though I usually take like weeks on all my other stories, it's just this story I'd written a ton of it and I wasn't planning on posting it, but then I loved it so I did. I hope your computer is fixed soon! I'd die without mine.**

**Dancing-Souls: hehe**

**Slytherin Rose Weasley: You thought you hated Zabini last chapter hahahaha. wait until this one, oh and the next one is even worse!**

**K: James/Meg is definite, but when and how is the journey we have to take!**

**Disclaimer - I don't own HP.**

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><p><em>Chapter 14: Are You A Wizard Or Not?<em>

By the next morning Meg had forgotten about her troubles from the night before. It was 6:30 am and there was a Quidditch game in three hours. Quidditch matches tended to create excitement in even the most studious of students. The few Ravenclaws that had already awoken had bright blue faces and were adorned in as much Ravenclaw paraphernalia as possible. Meg was slipping over to the empty Slytherin table when sound burst through the doors to the Great Hall.

James had come skipping into breakfast singing about quidditch, his arm latched in Alfie's, dragging the yawning and disgruntled boy with him. Alfie did not seem happy to be awake so early with such a loud alarm yanking him along. Meg grinned at James.

"Margaret darling, care to join us!' James looped his other arm in hers, practically singing her name. She giggled and responded.

"Oh Jameson, I'd be honored." The two skipped to the Gryffindor table and sat themselves down. Alfie was shuffling behind them, he'd somehow managed to yank his arm from James' control.

"I hate morning people." Alfie muttered as his head banged against the table. James was ignoring his friend and instead singing a new song at the top of his lungs. Meg joined in with laughter, adding her own notes and lyrics to his already terrible versus.

"And then old Ogg got hit in the head. While Gwenog flew from the rafters!" Alfie pounded his head on the table at his friends nonsensical tunes.

"Mr. Potter, Ms. Wood. I understand your excitement, but do try to keep it quieter. The rest of the castle is still trying to sleep." Professor Vector had walked down to them and spoke sternly with a firm frown on her face. Meg knew Professor Vector's expressions however and this was one of her softer faces. James had never had a class with Professor Vector and was instantly frightened. Meg winked at James.

"O'course Professor Vector. Sorry." Professor Victor's lips twitched into an almost smile at Meg, her bubbly personality made it hard for even the sternest of teachers to resist.

"Thank you Miss Wood. I'll see in class next Thursday." Meg nodded in response and waved Professor Vector away.

A couple Hufflepuffs had entered the Great Hall now and like the Ravenclaws, were showing their House spirit. One girl had transfigured her head to be a large badgers. Meg and James cheered for her, glad that other people were as excited about quidditch as them. They had gone back to singing too. Alfie was smacking his head against the table repeatedly, while teachers shook their heads at them. More students trickled in to the Great Hall as the day progressed and they either glared, ignored or joined in with Meg's and James' singing.

Roxanne had belted her own version of the school song replacing Hogwarts with Hufflepuff and other words with quidditch related vocabulary. She was decked in yellow and black attire as her recent boyfriend was on Hufflepuff and her last ex was in Ravenclaw. However, she walked beside Rose who was decked in Ravenclaw attire to support her best friend. Meg and James ended their song and meal once it was 9 o'clock. The game would begin in 30 short minutes and every one was filtering down to the field. The players had left around 20 minutes earlier to get dressed and stretched. Meg and James were chatting incessantly and at warp speed, while Alfie trailed behind them, a muffin clutched in one hand. They sat themselves in the best seats, shoving others out of their way and squishing in next to eachother. Meg was practically sat on James' lap.

Most of Gryffindor had come to see the game along with all of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. The first couple quidditch games were always exciting to watch. Meg had suggested for her quidditch team to watch the game as well, to learn more about their opponents and how they play. Besides some of the Slytherin team, not many other Slytherins had attended the match, instead favoring to sleep in or traipse around a nearly empty castle.

Fred slipped in between James and Alfie just as the announcer began shouting about the beginning of the game. The players were flying out and the crowd was cheering wildly. Fred's hair was in a disarray, causing the others to come to the conclusion that he'd only just awoken

"Good of you to join us mate!" James yelled in Fred's ear. Fred shrugged and laughed.

"I like my sleep!" Meg pointed excitedly and began bouncing as Madam Hooch blew the whistle and tossed the quaffle into the air. The players zoomed around the field, fighting over the quaffle, dodging each other and bludgers.

Ravenclaw was in the lead when James started having to pee. He stood and gave the others reassurance he'd be back soon. After doing his business and starting to walk back to the pitch he was met by Zabini.

"Potter." Zabini stood in front of James.

"Not again." James groaned aloud. "Look it's your own fault Meg asked me to watch the match with her this time-" Zabini cut James off with snarling words.

"Listen here you bloody buffoon, you and your whole family are a bunch of rotten spoiled bitches. Just because your dad beat you know who doesn't make you or your dumb brother or slut sister special-" James fist flew forward into Zabini's chin before he could even think about what he was doing.

Next James knew Zabini and himself were rolling around on the ground, fighting the muggle way. Fists flew and made loud impact. The fight only ended when the boys were quite literally forced away from each other. Alfie had yanked James away from Zabini, while Zabini's friend Charles Flint was dragging him away.

Zabini spat towards James and it took all of his willpower not to lurch back at him again.

"Don't ever talk about my family again Zabini or it won't just be a black eye." Alfie yanked on James arm.

"Come on. The game ended and everyone's headed to lunch." They were ready to leave when Zabini shot forward again and smacked into James. Alfie dove into the fight this time, helping James get away from Zabini's clutches. Flint had grabbed ahold of Zabini this time and he had a slightly bloody lip from jumping in to stop the other three.

"Stop it, all of you. Wood will kill us if we show up all beat up to the next practice." The last bit was only for Zabini, who nodded and turned stiffly away from James and Alfie.

James allowed Alfie to yank him back to the restrooms and help clean him up a bit. After removing as much blood as they could they walked off to the Great Hall for lunch.

"Shit." James groaned for the tenth time as he touched his finger's to his stinging nose. Upon poking it he let out a hiss of pain and knew it was definitely broken, just as he'd feared.

"It's your own fault." Alfie shook his head while nursing his arm against him.

"It's partially your fault as we-" Alfie ignored James' blame throwing and kept speaking.

"I had to back up your idiot arse and now look." Alfie held his arm in front of James' face, making his friend aware of the bruised and oddly bent body part. James grinned and then winced wishing he hadn't.

"So you wanted to save my arse, huh?" James winked at Alfie. Alfie opened his mouth, most likely to say a smart comeback, but a voice spoke before he could.

"It is a rather nice arse." Both boy's turned in shock to face a rather amused Meg. Her eyebrows were raised and lips pursed in an attempt to keep herself from laughing.

"I heard some idiots got in a fist fight. Apparently they forgot they were wizards with wands." James glanced at the ground, ashamed. Alfie pointed to James.

"You've found the idiot." Meg shook her head good naturedly.

"What were you thinking?" Her voice was stern, but not unkind. James shrugged his shoulders, causing him to wince in pain. Meg's expression softened. "I think you've got a broken nose." Her fingers lightly grabbed James' face and turned it for inspection.

During her survey of his injuries James eyes found hers. He was caught by how beautiful her blue eyes were. They reminded him of blueberries, which he supposed weren't the prettiest of things to compare a girl's eyes to, but that's what he'd thought.

She pulled her wand out and pointed it in between James' eyes. His eyes widened in alarm and he flinched back. Meg chuckled and told him to calm down. She tapped his nose with her wand and muttered a soft word.

A sharp pain jolted through James' nose, turning into a warm feeling as the nose righted itself. Next Meg tapped his bleeding lip and the other visible bruises that covered him. She moved onto Alfie and did the same to him. They both grinned at her after she finished and thanked her profusely.

"You're lucky that I'm training to be a medi-witch." Meg informed them false sternly.

"You're bloody brilliant, you know?" James almost hugged her for not yelling at him. He'd expected her to be very unhappy with the fact that he'd got in a fight with her boyfriend.

"Oh I know." She winked and then entered the great hall, followed by James and Alfie.

James was disappointed to see that Zabini's face had also been healed. He became even more unhappy when Meg said goodbye to the two boys and joined Zabini for lunch. Zabini leaned in and kissed Meg soundly, then pulled away with a large smirk.

The jerk was acting like he'd won a trophy. James hated him so much that it made his fists clench to just think his name. How Meg could sit near him, let alone kiss him was a mystery to James. Although, considering she didn't know the truth about what Zabini had said to cause the fight it wasn't entirely her fault.

James stalked to the Gryffindor table and slumped down in his seat across from Fred. Alfie sat beside him and began to chuckle at his friend's behavior.

"Calm down I don't want a detention because you're jealous of Zabini, besides I think you've fought enough today."

"What?" James spluttered out in indignation. "I'm not jealous of Zabini!" He claimed it too quickly, confirming Alfie's statement. Alfie ignored James' open mouth and began to serve himself food.

"Of course you are. You're jealous that Meg is spending time with him instead of with us." James grumpily snatched a sandwich.

"Am not." He childishly muttered through a large bite.

"If you'd asked her out first she'd be over here with us." James rolled his eyes.

"Alfie we are just friends. You know that." Alfie shrugged.

"Alright." Fred sent Alfie a wink that James ignored.

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><p>Meg twirled around with Zabini, causing James to scowl deeper than he already had been. The loud music was annoying, the food tasted like crap and the drinks weren't nearly strong enough. When James had complained about all of this to Alfie, he had simply asked why James was still here then and grabbed Hannah to dance with.<p>

James, Alfie, and Fred loved parties, and were known to show up at any which explained why they were in the Hufflepuff common room. The Hufflepuffs had decided to throw a party since they'd managed to win the match even though Ravenclaw had been ahead for a good portion of it.

Zabini yanked Meg in even closer to him, attempting to grind more than dance. However, Meg was oblivious to his attempts as she whirled around, flipped her hair wildly, and jumped up and down. James smiled at her rhythmless movements and her obvious uncaringness on other's thoughts about her. Zabini didn't seem to appreciate her dance moves as much as James did though. He ended up eventually whispering an excuse in her ear and leaving her alone.

Meg twirled a few more times before seeing James. She made her way over to where he sat alone on a couch.

"Where is everybody?" James knew that by her gesture she meant their friends. At the start of the party they'd all been together.

"Alfie and Hannah are dancing together somewhere, Layla said she had a charms essay due Monday, and Fred is hitting on any girl he can." Meg laughed, still a bit breathless from her crazy dancing.

"Why are you sitting alone?" Meg wondered, but James didn't answer. He knew that for some reason the only person he was actually interested in dancing with was sitting beside him.

"Do you want to dance?" He asked and offered a hand to her. She used the hand to pull herself to her feet beside where James stood. James half-dragged her to a small space on the dance floor. He took one of her hands and her waist, her free hand rested on his shoulder and they began to dance.

It wasn't smooth or rhythmic and the silly almost waltz they were doing didn't match the party music. Neither of them cared how they looked as James spun Meg out a couple times and then hopped a few steps before continuing their faux waltz.

At some point they'd both begun to laugh. James grinned and thought that he could happily stay that way all night.

Sadly, Zabini interrupted them. He tapped on Meg's shoulder and yanked her arm from James' with a scowl on his face.

"I've been looking for you." Meg sent James an apologetic look.

"Sorry Blaise." Zabini glanced at James again before angling himself so that he was blocking Meg and James from each other completely.

"Let's go get a drink? Flint's got firewhisky that he's promised to share with us." His arm wrapped around her shoulders possessively and began to drag her away.

"Alright, one moment." Meg stopped them and turned to James. "Thanks for the dance. Don't sit alone the rest of the night, okay?" James nodded at Meg's worried face.

"I won't." He reassured her.

"Night." Meg was yanked away from James quickly. Zabini leaned down and whispered in Meg's ear, whatever he'd said made Meg giggle.

"Night." James whispered after her retreating back.

James was angry that Zabini had ruined his and Meg's moment, though he supposed Zabini had the right too. Had James been Meg's boyfriend and Zabini had been dancing with her James would have hexed him. But, James wasn't Meg's boyfriend and he'd been lucky that Zabini hadn't hexed him.

At some point Alfie had made his way over to James and he spoke, startling James.

"Nice dancing, if you can call it that." James chuckled at his friend's teasing.

"Probably not." He mused.

"Yeah, I doubt it could be. Everyone was talking about how horrible and cute it was." Hannah had slipped up beside Alfie hooking her arm in his and bluntly joining the conversation.

"Cute?" Alfie and Hannah nodded at James question. They all crossed to a free couch and sat beside each other.

"Yeah, a group of girls was expressing that they thought you two were absolutely adorable." Alfie made a disgusted face and winked at James.

"Yeah?" Hannah grinned and responded.

"Apparently they ship Mames." Hannah made finger quotations around the word ship. James frowned in confusion.

"Pardon?"

"Mames. It's Meg and James put together." Alfie shrugged as Hannah chortled. James joined in with Hannah's laughs.

"You're kidding?" The couple shook their heads.

"I wish." Alfie sighed.

"Well obviously they'd ship Mames. I mean look at us, both good looking, athletic, perfect…." Hannah interrupted James with a serious expression.

"I'm going to stop you before your head explodes from how big it's growing." Alfie chuckled at his girlfriend's joke and added on.

"Plus I've heard some girls saying that Zabini's more attractive." James scoffed.

"He's also a huge wanker." Alfie and Hannah chuckled before agreeing with him.

"That he is, that he is."

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><p><strong>Please review!<strong>

**Thanks- Jenn**


	15. Let Go

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**SamanthaRenee17: I'm so sorry that your week's not been very good. I hope this chapter will cheer you up and I'm sure next week will be better! **

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**Slytherin Rose Weasley: Well this chapter concludes Zabini being a git so enjoy!**

**Twilight-Narnia-Charmed: always!**

**Disclaimer - I don't own HP.**

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><p><em>Chapter 15: Let Go Of Me<em>

Zabini and Meg had been spending an awful large amount of time together lately and James was feeling the familiar jealousy with having to share a friend with someone else. It was even worse considering it was a Slytherin and not just any Slytherin, but the one he happened to hate the most.

"Hey Meg!" James waved her over at breakfast.

"Hey Jame-jame." James rolled his eyes and snorted at Meg. Lately she'd been attempting to give him new nicknames, some of them were absolutely ridiculous. Actually, all of them were ridiculous.

"Are you free after class today? I was hoping we could do potions work together, you are so much better at it then I am."

"I promised Blaise I'd help him too. Would you want to join us?" James groaned at the mention of Zabini.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea." Meg pouted a little.

"Please? I know you two don't necessarily get along," James snorted at that, Meg ignored him and continued. "but I'd rather not have to go over potions twice and I'd really appreciate it if you two would just try for me." James sighed. Her blue eyes were wide and appeared innocent, though he knew she was anything but.

"Alright. Fine." He groaned out. Meg grinned and leaned forward to give him a peck on the cheek. "Excellent! We usually get the table in the left corner, near the window." Meg ran back to her own table with a quick good bye and James watched as she sat beside Zabini who threw an arm at her, kissed her and then turned away to talk to his friends. James wanted to smack him and not just because he was stealing Meg away. Also because Zabini treated her like crap.

James saw Zabini ignore her, just as he was doing now. He knew Zabini lied to Me and he didn't get it. How could anyone not give Meg their full attention when she was around, she was a ball of energy and always bright and bouncy. She was impossible to ignore, yet there Zabini was, arm around her as if she were his possession as he talked to his mates and didn't once glance at her.

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><p>Meg walked in to find Blaise asleep in the library at their normal table. She smiled at his handsome features and crossed to him. She shook his shoulders waking him.<p>

"Hey sleepy." Blaise gazed up at her and grinned. He leaned up and kissed her deeply. She pulled away and sat beside him.

"I think we need to talk about something." Meg sighed as the words left her mouth. She was dreading the talk that she knew had to happen. Even though she'd promised herself she'd leave judgement about James and Blaise's interactions between each other out of her relationship decisions a few things had been bugging her. Especially after James had agreed to get along with Blaise for her this afternoon. If James could do it then surely so could Zabini, but to convince him she needed to know the full story of events that happened between them.

"What about?" Blaise leaned in closer to her and attempted to capture her lips with his. She pulled back quickly, knowing she'd get distracted if she allowed him to kiss her.

"You and James." Blaise sat back in his chair with a large scowl.

"What about Potter?" He spat James' last name out with venom.

"I know that some of the things you've told me about your…. interactions aren't true. James may hate to share, but he doesn't just attack someone without a wand unless he's been provoked and I know that Molly is always looking for reasons to punish him so there's no way she'd let him off with detention that one time." Meg hadn't been able to free herself from the thoughts she was now sharing.

"It's no secret Potter and I don't get along." Blaise started. "I've tried to be very patient and let you hang out with him, but honestly I don't think you should anymore." Meg scooted her chair further back away from him.

"Excuse me? Let me, LET me?" She glared at Blaise who just rolled his eyes at her.

"Oh, don't get upset. It's no big deal alright? Just stop seeing Potter and-"

"No." Meg interrupted him with outrage and stood. "You can't just tell me what to do."

"Sure I can. That's what I've been doing since the start. You're my girlfriend, you should listen to me."

Meg realized in that moment that Blaise was right. She had been doing everything he'd asked without even realising it. He'd told her to go on dates with him, she had. He'd told her to be his girlfriend, she'd gone with it. He thought he had control over her merely because she'd agreed with his first few demands.

"Not anymore." She snapped, grabbing her bag from the floor and slinging it over her shoulder.

"Sorry?" He inquired in surprise.

"I'm not your girlfriend anymore. You can't tell me what to do Zabini. I'm not a dog." Zabini sighed and stood. He grasped Meg's arm to stop her from leaving.

"Come on now Meg. Don't be so dramatic." He spoke to her like she was a small child upset about not getting her way.

"Let go of me." She commanded. He rolled his eyes again and didn't release her.

"Now Meg, honestly. We were both dating each other for the same reason."

"What's that?" She frowned.

"Our looks. You're gorgeous, I'm handsome. We are the perfect couple." He shrugged.

"Did you like anything else about me?" Meg's eyes held the hurt she felt. Zabini simply shrugged.

"You're pretty and popular. What more is there really?" Meg yanked at her arm.

"Let go of me." Zabini didn't let go.

"Seriously, you're still on about this." Meg growled as Zabini continued. "It's not my fault this relationship is falling apart. You are obsessed with Potter, always going on about how you have to meet up with James, oh James wouldn't like that, poor James got hurt. Blah blah blah."

"I said for you to let go." When Zabini still hadn't released Meg's arm a new voice was added to the pair's raised whispers.

"You heard her Zabini." James had his wand raised and pointed at Zabini's chest. Zabini released Meg's arm, throwing it back to her.

"Fine. Just know this wasn't my fault Wood." He stood and left the library angrily. Meg collapsed in the chair she'd been sat in moments before and rested her head on the table.

"Are you alright?" James hurried to her side in worry. Her shoulders shrugged and her head stayed down.

"Come on, I'll take you to the kitchens for some ice cream." Meg allowed James to drag her to the kitchens.

"Sorry, I suck at dealing with crying girls." James told Meg after he handed her a bowl of ice cream. She gave him an attempt at a small smile.

"I'm not crying." She pointed out.

"True." James shoved a hand through his hair. "I hope you know that Zabini is a huge wanker and Hannah will gladly beat him up for you." Meg's eyebrows rose.

"Not you?" James shook his head.

"He and I already had a fist fight once, I don't want to revisit that." Meg shook her head at him.

"So you are offering Hannah's life then?"

"More like volunteering her wand's service." Meg giggled.

"You know for sucking at cheering up crying girls, you do a great job at making sad girls laugh." James grinned at her.

"Only you, I suspect." Meg took a bit of ice cream and patted James arm.

"I appreciate it." He nodded.

"It's no problem, as long as you aren't sad about Zabini anymore." Meg cocked her head to the side, in a faux confused expression.

"Who is Zabini?" The two shared smiles and that was the end of it.

Meg felt brief sadness at Zabini's words, but James did a great job of cheering her up. Later that night Hannah threatened to beat Zabini up and Layla gave Meg a chocolate bar and a huge hug. The next morning Meg woke up and at breakfast she laughed loudly when Zabini entered the room with "PRICK" printed across his forehead in green warts. The warts distorted his pretty face and Meg felt rather satisfied.

"Hannah, I told you not to mess with him."

"It wasn't me!" Hannah held up her hands in innocence. Meg glanced at the Gryffindor table and instantly spotted a guffawing James and Fred. She grinned.

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><p><strong>Please review!<strong>

**Thanks- Jenn**


	16. Plans For The Holidays

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**Disclaimer - I don't own HP.**

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><p><em>Chapter 16: Plans for the Holidays<em>

James scuffed his feet nervously across the ground. It's not like he hadn't asked friends to come over before. Alfie almost always came to his house for Christmas break. This year however, Alfie had cancelled, saying his parents wanted him to go with them on their annual holiday trip and James had to invite a different friend.

Of course, he knew exactly who he wanted to invite and that was what was making him so nervous. Meg was a girl. He'd never brought a girl home before. He'd never wanted to bring a girl to meet his parents before, but this year was different. James had never wanted to bring a girl home because he'd never been good friends with one. He'd never thought he would be either.

He knew the way his family would react when he brought Meg home with him.

His mother would get nosy and hopeful, pressing repeatedly about James and Meg's relationship status. His father would chuckle and wink "knowingly". Albus and Lily would most definitely take the mickey out of him and don't even get him started on his many cousins and aunts and uncles' reactions. Then there were his grandparents too…

Hence the reason James was incredibly nervous.

"Hi!" Meg burst into James' dorm with her bright sing song voice, which instantly brought a smile to his face. "Up and at 'em sleeping beauty. No time for napping, it's our last Hogsmeade weekend before hols."

She yanked him from the bed, causing him to flop onto the ground with a yelp. James grinned up at her from the floor. He had the sudden urge to extend the invitation now. He was never very good with self control.

"Come to my house for the holiday." His grin was goofy, causing giggles to spring from Meg. Nervous futters began in James' stomach. Suddenly, he felt very worried that she might decline. He knew she'd do it kindly if she did, but it might be better if she did it rudely so he wouldn't feel so pitied...

"Sure." Meg's response was as quick and abrupt as James question had been. She offered out a hand to help lift him from the carpet. James felt the relief instantly, until Meg continued speaking. "As long as you come over for Easter?"

"Ah, there's always a catch." James sighed with false vexation. Meg rolled her eyes as she giggled at him. Her laughter made him grin, ruining the effect he'd been going for. He nodded in answer, agreeing to her condition.

"Come on goofy." Meg yanked at James' arm, pulling him up and forward a few steps. He halted their progress and glanced down at his attire. Bright gold snitches covered his red pajama pants.

"Uh, I need to change." He said awkwardly, his cheeks going pink as Meg surveyed his pajamas.

"Cute." She teased, he retaliated by poking his tongue out at her.

Meg waited for James outside of his dorm until he'd come out dressed. Together they trotted down the stairs and to the carriages. Along the way they collected their friends; Alfie from the Gryffindor Common Room, Layla and Hannah from the bottom of the stairs, and Fred already waiting in front of a carriage. After arriving to Hogsmeade the group decided to split up into smaller groups of two for gift buying.

"I call Hannah!" Alfie had called out and grabbed her hand, taking off before the others could even think to respond.

Fred and Layla shared a quick look.

"I need new quills." Layla claimed.

"Crazy, so do I!" Fred hooked his arm through hers.

"Bye guys!"

The two ran off together, glancing back over their shoulders at James and Meg. The two shrugged, as they didn't mind being alone together.

"Can we go to Zonkos first?" Meg begged.

"Is that even a question!" James viewed her incredulously before hooking her arm and practically dragging her towards the store. They were soon racing, arms unhooked, snow falling in swirling patterns around them. Their laughter rang out, echoing in the white world. Anyone outside could hear the echos of their laughs, but wouldn't see them through the blinding white of snow.

The joke shop was warm and incredibly welcoming with it's bright colors. Noise spilled out from the front doors. Their first stop took up a majority of their time as they became distracted by the many toys and items in Zonkos. There were too many interesting, loud and colorful things for them to leave quickly, not that they'd ever want to anyways.

Their second stop, Airborne Air-life, took nearly as long, if not longer for them to leave. It became apparent to them then why their friends had ditched them so quickly. Despite Hannah's interest in quidditch she wasn't big on standing in a shop filled with books and knick-knacks for flying or cleaning a broom. Fred was distracted too easily and enjoyed moving from store to store at quick and random intervals. Then there was Layla and Alfie, who both couldn't care less about flying techniques or broom upkeep. The four had known their friends well enough to escape the endless quidditch talk that was no doubt to occur.

"I'm almost hurt that they decided they didn't want to spend time with us." Meg sighed as she payed for a two new tip books and a cleaning kit. James laughed as he dumped an armful of various objects on to the counter.

"I'm not." He began digging through his pockets and counting out money. "If I'd gone with Alfie or Fred I wouldn't have gotten to discuss the likelihood of the Wasps beating the Arrows next year."

"I suppose that's true. Hannah would've just talked about how attractive Ludo Bagman's cousin is. Granted, Grecian Bagman is awfully good-looking. " James snorted as he held the door open for Meg, moving on to the next store.

They successfully found gifts for their friends and family, making them very glad for the Hogsmeade visit. The rest of the weekend went by too fast and they were back in class before they could even blink.

The academic week was long. Teachers piled on homework, trying to get in as much as they could before Friday came. Students were becoming less involved in class and instead daydreaming about winter holidays.

Finally, Saturday the 21st came around. It was the day that students going home would be taking the train back. Those leaving the school had arisen early, scrambling around attempting to collect last minute items and stuff them into their suitcases, and eventually hurrying down to stuff in a quick breakfast before going searching for friends. Those staying behind showed up to breakfast to wish their friends and housemates a good holiday, but they still wore pajamas.

Meg stood in the center of a group of students. They all took turns hugging her and wishing her a good winter break. She hugged a few Hufflepuffs, kissed a Ravenclaw on the cheek, high-fived a couple Gryffindors and squeezed her fellow Slytherins in large bear hugs.

James waited a small distance away from her with Alfie and Fred. Hannah came skipping over before Meg did, she grabbed Alfie's hand and convinced him to leave and catch the others a carriage down to the train. Alfie gave a brief "See you in a bit" to his friends as he was dragged away. Layla and Meg came skipping over, finished with their good byes.

Meg began to usher the others out the door, expressing her concern that the carriages would be leaving at any moment. The group found the carriage that Alfie and Hannah had "saved" for them, they also found Alfie and Hannah snogging. James rolled his eyes.

"Can you two control your hormones?" Hannah stuck her tongue out in response.

"We aren't going to see each other for two whole weeks!" She squeaked indignantly. The train was filling fast when the carriage dropped them off and it wasn't likely for their to be many compartments left.

They ran to find a compartment and ended up getting one in the middle that had been missed by other groups. They all fit comfortably, considering it was only five of them. Fred had run off to join some boy's in his year and James only felt the slightest twinges of jealousy, before pushing it away. Shortly after finding the compartment the group was joined by Lily. Lily had seen Meg before, but never been formally introduced and James was worried she and Meg wouldn't get along.

"Lils this is Meg, Meg this is my sister Lillian." James winked at Lily's face of outrage.

"My name is not Lilian. It's just Lily." Meg stuck out her hand and shook Lily's.

"A much prettier name than Jamie over here has got." She winked, while James gasped in horror and clutched at his heart.

"How could you ever say anything is better than me?" Meg smiled sweetly at him.

"Oh, easily. Practically everything is better than you, Chudley Cannons included." James fell out of his seat in a "faint".

"You've wounded me greatly woman." He cried dramatically.

"Oh no, what ever will I do to fix this? Oh I know… celebrate my bril insult!" Lily roared in laughter, deciding that she liked Meg instantly. James wasn't so sure if he wanted Lily and Meg to get along after all.

The compartment was getting smaller gradually as halfway through the train ride Scorpius and Al shoved their ways in. When they entered they were met by an interesting scene. Layla was sitting and reading a book whilst beside her Hannah and Alfie were wrestling for dominance over the last chocolate frog. James was on the floor staring at Meg and Lily with a shocked and outraged expression, the two aforementioned girls were cackling. Both of them had their heads thrown back in glee.

"What's going on in here?" Al asked, taking the empty seat in between Lily and Meg. James made a grunt as he sat up and watched his old seat be taken. Scorpius squished himself in beside Al and Lily.

"Those two" James pointed an accusing finger at Lily and then Meg as he glared at the two. "shoved me from my seat, that you have now just taken." Al shrugged.

"Suck it up."

"Leave." James whined. "And take her with you." He pointed at his sister, who poked her tongue out in response. Meg rolled her eyes and offered her hand to James.

"Oh hush, you're acting like a baby." She winked so he knew she was teasing. He pouted, but stopped his complaining. He allowed Meg to pull him to his feet, but in the process he yanked her to the ground and then stood over her with a grin. One of the oldest tricks in the book, but she still fell for it.

"Oi, you jerk!" Meg gasped in shock before hopping up and smacking James' arm.

"I've gotta go meet someone." Scorpius stood and gestured to his half of the seat, cutting off James and Meg's bickering. "See you all in a bit." Lily glanced at Scorpius in interest.

"Who are you going to see?" Scorpius blushed a bit as Al grinned, but instead of answering his sister he responded.

"Don't be so nosy Lils." Lily blushed now.

"Sorry." She told Scorpius, who shrugged back at her.

"It's fine, I'm used to it. James is always sticking his nose in mine and Al's plans. Must be a Potter trait." James shrugged at the boy's accusation.

"Weasley actually." Lily corrected as James spoke instantaneously.

"I don't trust you two."

"You don't trust us?" Al shouted in disbelief. The two boys began to argue and Scorpius just waved a goodbye to those who were actually paying attention. Layla, Meg and Lily chorused a goodbye back.

James was teased mercilessly the the rest of the train ride by Meg and his sister. The two had seemed to form some unspoken alliance and ganged up on him, telling each other embarrassing stories and jokes involving him. It didn't help that Al would encourage them, either interjecting a couple lines or reminding them of stories they hadn't told yet.

"...then he pulls down his pants and-" Lily's laughter was too much for her to finish the story, something James was grateful for. Meg had already begun giggling and the story only got worse from there.

"We're here!" James yelled over his sister's voice, preventing her from completing the story. "Everyone out. Go, go!" He was shooing everyone quickly, briefly stopping to nab his sister's jumper that she'd left on her seat, before following after. As he started out of the train a huge bout of nerves rose in him.

He'd completely forgotten about the whole "Meg's a girl, and he'd never brought a girl home before" thing. Now it was all rushing at him and reminding him that his family was very bad at keeping their thoughts to themselves. If people thought James couldn't keep his nose out of other's business, wait until they met his Uncle Ron….

Meg was bouncing in excitement and she turned to James uttering a few sentences before going down the train steps. "I'm so glad I don't have to stay at home alone. Oh, I hope your parents like me!" Her chatter was nervous and brought a smile to James' lips.

"Are you kidding? Everyone loves you." He reassured her with a roll of his eyes.

"You are too sweet!" Meg trilled at James with wide happy eyes. She leaned forward to give him a peck on the cheek. Just then a voice cleared from beside them.

"Hey Jamie." Teddy Lupin was raising his eyebrows at James and Meg. Lily already stood beside him, trunk resting against her legs. Teddy's hair was bright blue, matching his eyes at the moment, making it quite difficult to miss him, yet still James hadn't noticed his approach.

The two boys were brothers in every sense but blood. They'd grown up together playing pranks, driving Ginny mad, and playing faux quidditch matches in the yard. Teddy had been there for practically all of James life, which meant he knew that James had never been close to a girl before.

When James was younger he'd believed that girls had some kind of disease and as he got older he decided they weren't there for more than a snog. James got along fine with his sister and cousins, but he never considered them "girls", they were just family. But here he was laughing and talking to a girl, and enjoying her company without their lips locking.

Teddy's shock at witnessing this was to be expected. James was even carrying the girl's trunk.

"Hey Ted." James grabbed his hair with his hand as his face turned pink. His ears were already bright red, a trait he'd gotten from his mother's side. Lily glance between James, Meg and Teddy before speaking.

"Ted this is Meg Wood. Meg this is Teddy Lupin." Meg thanked Lily for her introduction as she shook Teddy's hand.

"Looks like Lily has to do your job. I hope you'll be introducing me to your parents so that she won't have to." Meg's teasing caused James to become a darker shade of red. Teddy smirked.

"This is your friend, then?" Meg giggled at Teddy's suggestive tone.

"Oh no, James hasn't ever asked anything of me more then friendship. Promise." If it was possible James' was even more red than before. His whole face closely resembling a tomato. Teddy guffawed.

"You're kidding! James what's wrong with you, she's prettier than every girl I've caught you snogging with."

"Where's mum and dad?"James attempted to change the subject.

"That was so sweet!" Meg gushed at Teddy at the same time.

"Who's being sweet? Can't possibly be James." A new voice chimed in.

"Oi, shut it Al!" James swiped his hand towards his little brothers head, Al ducked and chuckled.

"Nah, it's Ted being sweet." Lily explained.

"Makes sense. Where's mum and dad?" Al turned to face Teddy, directing his inquiry at him.

"They sent me to get you. Mum is cleaning up and dad's at work 'til five." He explained. "Where's Scorp?"

Al opened his mouth to answer Teddy, but another voice spoke first.

"I'm here, sorry!" Scorpius had come rushing over, trunk dragging behind him.

"Kissing your girl goodbye?" Al winked as Scor turned pink.

"Shuddup." Scorp muttered in response. James swung an arm round Scorpius's shoulders, surprising everyone.

"They've all been taking the mickey on me too." He explained his sudden new camaraderie with Scorpius. The other's laughed, Meg especially. James grinned at her and swung his arm around her shoulders instead of Scorpius'. She'd taken her own trunk now. Everyone followed dragging their own heavy trunks. Teddy was grunting from the weight of Lily's, as she skipped ahead of him happily.

"I swear she's got boulders in here." He muttered.

"Or you're just out of shape." James chimed with a smirk.

"Careful Jamie, I might make you walk home." Teddy threatened.

The large group, chatted happily as they balanced and shoved trunks into a magically enlarged automobile boot. Next they stuffed themselves into the automobile. Lily had called and raced for the passenger side seat. The other four were squashed in the back. Scorpius and Meg squished in between Al and James.

James didn't mind that Meg's whole right side was pressing into his left. Although, he didn't appreciate the fact that Scorpius was practically under her on the other side. That boy already had a girlfriend he didn't need Meg as well.

Teddy drove the car faster than speed limit technically allowed, but none of the car's inhabitants seemed to notice as they were busy chatting happily.

The whole ride was filled with light teasing and giggles. Everyone was trading stories and friendly insults.

"And then the idiot ran! He was screaming and without pants, but he ran!" Meg burst into peals of laughter after Lily finished the story, the rest of the car joined in quickly.

"What else could I have done?" James managed to choke out between his own fits of chuckles. Meg's laughter was too contagious not to join in with.

Finally, Teddy pulled into the driveway of a good sized house with a large yard. The house had white paneling and a brown roof. It stood a couple miles from the nearest village, allowing access to shops, but enough privacy to have rowdy games of quidditch.

The Potter's and company were yanking trunks out and passing them to their rightful owners. James had grabbed Meg's as well as his own, thumping them across the lawn. He and Meg were arguing playfully, insisting that they should carry her trunk.

"I can get it James, really!" Meg was insisting.

"No, no. It's fine…." James waved her off.

Ginny came bustling from off the porch. She wore old, light colored jeans with a Holyhead Harpies jersey, her hair yanked into a loose bun at the back of her head. Her smile was joyful and made her eyes appear similar to warm melted chocolate. She was positively elated to see her children.

"Hello darling!" She grasped Lily in a tight hug and then moved on to Al. "Al, Scorp, James." She hugged each boy with the greeting of their name. Next she kissed Teddy on his cheek.

"Hullo mum." Teddy said warmly before shoving Al and Scorp towards the house. He grabbed Lily and carried her up the steps as well, leaving James, Meg and Ginny standing alone.

"Oh, hullo." Ginny glanced at her son, eyebrows raised in curiosity. He stepped forward quickly, running a hand through his hair.

"Mum this is my friend, Meg Wood. Meg, my mum." James introduced still yanking at his messy hair.

"Nice to meet you Mrs. Potter." Meg flashed one of her sweetest, most genuine smiles and offered her hand to his mum.

"Call me Ginny." Mum grasped Meg's hand in hers and shook returning the kind smile. James let out a breath of air he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. "James has never brought a girl home before." She teased her son with a mischievous light in her eyes.

"Merlin can everyone be meaner to me today?" James complained at Meg's laugh.

"Oh, you're fine. Stop being self absorbed and give me a tour of your lovely home."

Ginny wasn't sure if she should laugh or pass out when James willingly began to follow Meg's instructions. Ginny was shocked, honestly. Back in his second year when Alfie had first come home over the holiday, Ginny had asked James to give him a tour. James had instead decided to lie around lazily in the living room. Poor Alfie hadn't known where the bathroom was for two days.

Ginny wanted to cry either from relief that the boy could follow directions or from betrayal, because he was listening to a girl who wasn't his mother. Her sadness left quickly as she witnessed James bending forward and guffawing loudly at something Meg had said. If someone could make her son laugh that much, they were okay with her. The small twinge of sadness was merely her motherly instincts, she missed her toddling James, the one that thought girls had a disease. At the same time she was proud of him for growing up, even if it was only slightly.

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><p>James was excited to give Meg the tour of his house. His mum and dad always kept the house fairly organized. They entered into the foyer and immediately freed themselves from the restraints of winter coats, gloves, hats and boots. They entered a hall and James turned left into the kitchen. It was white and yellow tiled, with white ash counters and a matching table to the side. The table was medium length and had six daisy patterned, cushioned chairs around it. The wonderful smell of fresh baking potatoes and roasting chicken hung in the air. Next, was the enormous dining room, with a very long table and two chandeliers at either end. The living room was just as beautiful as the other two rooms and beside it a bathroom of fair size. They traipsed up the stairs.<p>

James pointed to each door they passed and explained whose room it was. His mum's and dad's on the left, his dad's study after that, Lily's room across the way and a guest room beside hers. The third floor was where his room and Al's resided, another bathroom was connected to James room.

"My mum and dad have their own, Lily has one that connects between her room and the guest room and the one here is connected to my room and Al's." James explained where the bathrooms were. He didn't want Meg having to hold it for two days like Alfie had. His mum hadn't been very pleased about that.

James' door was on the left. Meg insisted on seeing it, embarrassedly he opened the door a crack to peak in. He was desperately praying to Merlin that he hadn't left any dirty boxers on the ground, when Meg shoved past him and through the door.

She glanced around in awe. James' room was large enough to contain a queen sized bed, a desk, a bookcase, and a set of drawers with an attached mirror. Quidditch posters littered the walls. The deep blue robes of Puddlemere United and dark green of the Holyhead Harpies flashed everywhere. The desk in front of the window was wide enough for two chairs to fit at, papers were spread across it messily and without care. James winced at the mess and glanced to scrutinize Meg's reaction.

She was walking over to James' bookcase, which held more trophies and trinkets than actual books. A snitch with broken wings sat on a chocolate bar besides a strutting quidditch player. Meg grabbed him, lifting him to her eye view and smiled at the small player's waving hand.

"It's my dad." She spoke gently. James shuffled forward.

"Er, yeah. He's an excellent quidditch player." Meg nodded with a wider smile.

"I'll get you his autograph. My Aunt Gwenog's too." Meg pointed to the poster of Gwenog Jones on his wall. James rocked forward, almost losing his balance.

"Really?" He said incredulously.

"Sure, they won't mind. Well, dad might, I'll tell him it's a permission slip." She winked at James and he chuckled back at her.

"Mum refused to get Gwenog's signature, claims it's inappropriate to ask the manager of her team for one."

Meg nodded in understanding and continued examining his room. She could barely see his light blue walls under all the posters. His bed had a red comforter, displaying his Gryffindor pride, she shook her head fondly at that. On what she assumed to be his closet door a slew of pictures and notes were pasted on the front. She moved forward and saw Alfie and Fred in a few of the pictures, grinning and winking at her.

"It's so comfortable." Meg sighed happily. "Fun too." She faced James and grinned in approval. He let out a loud breath of relief.

"I'm glad you like it. We should find out where you're sleeping." He said as an afterthought. He'd brought both his and Meg's trunks up to his room already, though he doubted his mum would approve of Meg staying in his room, even if they were just mates. Meg agreed willingly, and followed James back down to the kitchen. Voices could just be made out as the kitchen door grew closer.

"You'll have to share with James, Ted. I didn't know he was bringing a girl home. I won't know where to put her if Ron and Hermione decide to come." Ginny was stressed as she chopped carrots.

"She can share with me mum." Lily suggested for a third time that evening.

"I don't know Lil-" Ginny was sighing wearily.

"I don't mind. Lily and I can have some girl bonding time." Meg's voice chimed in and she winked at Lily. James grinned at Meg's natural ability to be selfless, despite being a Slytherin. He loved that she always seemed to know exactly what to say and when to say it. Ginny beamed at Meg.

"You're sure?"

"Of course! How else will Lily and I come up with new torture methods for James?" Meg sat beside a now giggling Lily and began helping her peel apples. Teddy was chopping the peeled apples into small bits and dumping them in a bowl, he paused his work to chuckle.

"She's my new favorite person." He pointed at Meg gleefully, as Lily nodded in agreement.

"Mum can't she sleep on my floor or on the couch? I don't want her and Lil plotting against me." James pouted, causing everyone's laughter to increase.

"A girl will not be sleeping in your room James and I won't force her to sleep on the couch, it's rude." Ginny chastised.

"You're going to make Hugo and Rose sleep on the couches!" James argued. James was standing beside Meg's chair, placing him in the perfect position for her, kneeling on the chair, to extend and place a kiss on his cheek.

"We're just teasing Jamie." James practically melted where he stood, how could he not when a beautiful girl was kissing his cheek? He flopped down in the chair next to her.

"No we weren't." Lily intoned seriously. "We _are_ going to plot against you." James scowled at his little sister.

"Oi, what did I ever do to you?" Lily smiled sweetly at her brother.

"You breathe don't you?" James gasped as roars of laughter filled the bright kitchen. Meg offered Lily a high-five, which was accepted, loud and proud.

"I hate you all." James muttered.

"That's nice dear, why don't you bring Meg's stuff into Lily's room?" James gaped at his mother and crossed his arms stubbornly.

"Please James?" Meg asked him with genuine sweetness. James sighed and stood, grumbling as he left the room. Everyone gaped at Meg. She glanced at their expressions in confusion. "What?"

"How'd you do that?" Teddy was openly gaping. Lily giggled, she'd witnessed this strange James on the train ride over. Ginny and Teddy had never seen James act like this with anyone though, and were fully surprised.

"Do what?" Meg still appeared fairly confuse, but slightly more amused now.

"She doesn't realize that he doesn't act like that with everyone." Lily explained.

"Act like what?" Meg was frowning in her confusion now.

"Do anything you want him to, you just ask politely and off he goes." Lily explained. Meg's eyes widened at Lily's observations. Meg had assumed James was like that with everyone. Sure, he grumbled and complained, but if you asked he'd be likely to help you out.

"He doesn't do that for everyone?" Meg glanced at each now chortling member of James' family.

"I suspect he's trying to be sweet." Ginny had turned back to the stove and was continuing cooking. Her face was hidden, but Lily and Teddy recognized the sound of laughter in her voice. They began snickering louder. Meg shrugged and good naturedly joked.

"Well you tell me what you want me to make him do then." Meg was grinning from ear to ear.

"Will you have him do my laundry?" Teddy inquired.

"And clean my room!" Lily squealed. The kitchen was filled with the bubbling laughter and squeals.

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><p><strong>Thanks for over 50 reviews guys! Sorry I took longer to update then normally, last week was super hectic! Also I'm at the point in the story where I have to write more then edit. I have some stuff planned out but I have to connect it all, when before I'd just edit and update.<strong>

** This month and next are going to be super busy for me too. Pretty much I'm telling you this all as a warning- I probably won't be able to update as regularly. I'll try to update at least once a week, sometimes I forget though so if you see that I haven't updated in awhile send me a pm or drop a review reminding me. **

**Please review!**

**Thanks- Jenn**


	17. The Soap Suds War

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**Okay, I owe you guys an explanation. I've been unable to update for multiple reasons. Firstly I've had tons of school work and I've had drivers ed. Secondly I attempted Camp NaNoWriMo last month and that took up a lot of time. Thirdly I get terrible migraines which seem to have spiked lately and I've had to take medications for them. Also one of the medications has been causing me to have anxiety attacks. So I'm super sorry for taking so long, but there wasn't much I could do.**

**Krose: Thank you! I'll try update better...**

**hockeychick19: Sorry to make you wait so long! Hope you enjoy this chapter too.**

**Disclaimer - I don't own HP.**

**Hopefully this chapter makes up for how long it took, it's rather cute! :)**

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><p><em>Chapter 17: The Soap Suds Wars <em>

Meg and Lily were sprawled across twin beds in Lily's room. They were reading magazines and gossiping as girls tend to do. Lily's room was around the same size as James', but she had a twin sized bed, which had been magically duplicated for Meg to sleep on. Her walls were light yellow with purple butterflies that flapped their wings every so often, her carpet was a matching purple. Two white dressers sat on either side of a floor length mirror and her white desk was organized neatly. Meg had also noticed that Lily's bookshelf held more books than things, as it should, unlike James. She also had a few pictures of her family and friends and only two quidditch posters on her wall. One poster was of the whole Holyhead Harpies team, Ginny included and the other a single player zooming around.

Meg figured Scorpius and Al must enjoy sharing Al's room just as much as she enjoyed sharing Lily's. Meg had always found sharing a room fun. Since she'd always been a single child she found the chaos and comradery with large families was thrilling. Meg never complained about her dorm mates at Hogwarts and she wouldn't complain about sharing a room with Lily.

"Dad's home!" Teddy's voice rang throughout the house. Lily sprang up and raced out to the hall way. Meg followed behind her slowly. She got to the bedroom door just in time to witness Al whipping past and down the next set of stairs. Scorpius walked after Al, he shook his head fondly at his friend's antics. He passed Meg with a wink. Meg began to start down the stairs, but stopped when she heard another pair of footsteps coming from above. James thudded down into view.

"Hey." They both greeted each other at the same time with grins.

"Dad, dad! James brought home a girl and she's sharing a room with me and he does whatever she says! It's so funny, and-" James eyes widened and his ears went pink at the sound of his little sisters' voice. Lily was speaking at warp speed in her excitement at seeing her dad for the first time since she'd gotten on the train for school, months ago. James sprinted down the stairs yelling crazily.

"Don't listen to anything she says, it's all lies!" Meg chuckled and traipsed to the kitchen where the large Potter family (and Scorpius) stood.

"It's true dad!" Al interrupted James. "She's awesome." Meg had entered by now, she ruffled Al's hair as she passed and then offered her hand to shake Harry's.

"I'm Meg Wood." She introduced with a wide smile.

"Harry Potter." Harry shook her hand firmly before continuing. "Wood? As in Oliver Wood?"

"He's my father, yes." Meg responded.

"Your dad was quidditch captain when I went to school."

"I know, he told me you were an excellent flyer." She gushed, causing a blush to take over Harry's cheeks.

"That's, er kind." Harry scratched his neck awkwardly. Ginny rolled her eyes at her husband's unending modesty.

"Alright, everyone sit for dinner." Ginny commanded, with a wave of her hand the table set itself. The food was already laid out, waiting to be served.

Scuttling and bumping began as the group attempted to seat themselves, Al dragging in an extra chair from the dining room. The table was slightly crowded, but they fit well enough.

Harry sat at one end of the table, Ginny to his right, then Teddy and Lily. Harry motioned for Meg to sit beside him on the left, James claimed the seat beside her, Al sat next to him and Scorpius at the other end of the table.

"Since we are doing Christmas here this year, we'll be sitting at the dining table for the majority of the week." Ginny informed Meg. Lily began bouncing up and down in her excitement, causing Teddy to spill the peas. Harry, James and Al didn't seem nearly as thrilled as her and showed this by groaning collectively.

"I love decorating!" Lily chimed, earning another round of loud groans from the males, Teddy and Scorpius joining in this time.

"We go to a different house each year that way grandma and grandpa don't get heart attacks with all the cleaning and cooking and people." Al explained further.

"Yeah, but grandma still insists on cooking too much food and bringing it with her and then making more as soon as she get's here." James chuckled fondly. Meg served herself food and passed the bowl to James.

"That sounds great. My parents always travel for Christmas. We've been to France, Spain, Egypt, part of America… practically everywhere. They're going to China this holiday, but I opted out." Lily ooh-ed and aah-ed at each country. She began firing a copious amount of questions at Meg about all the things she'd seen.

"I wish we traveled more." Lily sighed wistfully after asking around twenty questions. Her pout caused both her parents to laugh loudly.

"We travel plenty Lily." Ginny spoke. "We visit your cousins in France and Uncle in Bulgaria…" Lily pouted more.

"Still." She whined.

When dinner had finished and the apple pie had been gobbled up, Ginny began collecting the dirty plates.

"James and I will do dishes!" Meg offered kindly, already beginning to help clean the leftover bowls and plates off the table. "Right?" She glanced at James with a stern look.

"Yeah, of course. We've got it mum." James took the dishes from Ginny's hands and shooed her and the rest of the family from the kitchen. Harry left with a wide gaping mouth.

"Did our son willingly just start doing the dishes?" Harry spoke in astonishment as he followed Ginny from the room.

"Yes he did." Ginny was beaming proudly.

"I like her." Harry decided.

"Everyone does." Scorpius informed him, Al and Lily agreed readily as they sat in the living room to tell their parents more about Meg.

Meg and James did the dishes manually, though they were of age. It seemed they had forgotten they could use magic, or perhaps they just didn't want to. They worked quickly together. Meg was drying the last plate and going up on tiptoe to put it away.

"Wasn't so bad, huh?" She grinned at James and he was quick to return her smile, laughing lightly too.

"Nah." he took a step forward and poked her nose with his finger.

"You've got bubbles on your nose."

"Oops." Meg swiped her hand into the remaining suds in the sink and wiped them onto James face. "Seems you do too." She was giggling silently, trying her hardest to keep a straight face as James spluttered bubbles.

"You won't get away with that!" James narrowed his eyes playfully and grabbed one of the newly cleaned glasses, filling it with water and pouring it over her head. She let out a loud squeal as the frigid water broke over her head, engulfing her in wet and cold. Her hand smacked the water bucket in the sink, splashing it's contents all over James. He yelped and danced away.

The two raced around the kitchen, filling cups with bubbles and water to dump on each other. The kitchen was a war zone, chairs being used as blockades, cups as weapons, and bubbles as amo.

Their water fight ended with them both collapsed on the floor under the table, panting as suds dripped above them. Laughter spilled from their lips even as they sopped up the soapy mess they'd managed to create.

Ginny had peaked in to her kitchen to see the horrid mess of bubbles and giggles. She backed away carefully. Somehow a smile found its way onto her face. Despite the mess, the playful teenagers made for a rather adorable sight and warmed her heart. She just prayed to Merlin that she wouldn't have to clean up the mess later.

"How'd we manage to get bubbles on the ceiling?" Meg wondered in amazement, staring up at the indeed bubbly ceiling. James responded through his bouts of laughter.

"I have no idea!" The two were practically collapsing from their amusement. Meg managed to grab paper towels and hoist herself onto a chair, stretching out and cleaning off the ceiling. She was on tiptoes and leaning as far forward as she could. She moved forward a step too far. Soon the chair was tipping and Meg with it.

"Ah!" Her shriek was short lived as James came to her rescue. He'd swooped in under her, catching her awkwardly. Meg's relief was let out in the form of a muffled giggle. Muffled because her face was pressed into James' chest. He held her tighter, breath ragged from worry.

"You okay?" She nodded.

"Yeah, thanks."

"No problem." He set her down, still holding around her shoulders to make sure she was steady. They stared into each other's eyes and James suddenly felt the urge to kiss her. He longed to lean in and kiss her perfect, pink, smiling lips.

Confusion was winding through his mind at those thoughts. Meg was his friend, only a friend. Nothing more... He began to lean in imperceptibly. He thought that maybe she moved forward the tiniest amount too.

"Are you guys done yet? Honestly, how long does it take to do the dishes." Al's voice faltered at the sight of Meg and James positions. His eyebrows raised and thought of the continuous insistences of being "just friends" that the two always made. The two pulled away quickly, chuckling slightly.

"We had a… slight delay." Meg winked at James as he roared with laughter. Al frowned in confusion and suspicion.

"Apparently we aren't very good at keeping water in the sink." James shrugged nonchalantly.

"Or off of the ceiling." Meg muttered softly.

"Right, well Scorp and I were wondering if you wanted to join our game of exploding snap." James glanced at Meg's soaked form, clothes and hair pasted to her skin. He didn't mind it much himself, but he knew girls could get picky about that kind of stuff. Even Lily, who could be a complete tomboy sometimes, would have gone to change, take a shower and dry her hair.

Yet, despite her shirt being practically see-through, Meg didn't make the boys wait.

"Sounds fun!" She ignored her soaked and chilled skin and followed Al into the living room after a quick vanishing spell on the rest of the bubbles in the kitchen. She conjured towels and tossed one into into James and sat on the other.

James grinned after her and nodded as he followed after her. He knew there was a reason he liked her.

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><p><strong> Thank you for all of you that have alerted to this story, it's actually a good amount. However, I'd <strong>**appreciate it even more if you could please review, it means the world to me!**

**Thanks- Jenn**


	18. Preperations

**Thank you for favoriting/alerting!**

**A quick update, since I made you all wait so long last time! Hope to update next week but it'll probably be later since I've got Relay For Life this weekend and driver's ed monday - wednesday.**

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**Disclaimer - I don't own HP.**

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><p><em>Chapter 18: <em>_Preparations_

The next morning was complete chaos. Ginny had paired off children and given them a job to complete in order for the house to be ready before Ron, Hermione, and their children got there. A third duplicate of Lily's bed had been made and the guest room cleaned to accommodate their visiting family members. Now the rest of the house had to be prepared.

Lily and Teddy were the living room decoration crew. That covered from the set up of the tree to the clean up of magazines or sweaters left on the couches.

Albus and Scorpius were clearing the yard, making it weed free and accident proof for when all the cousins came to play quidditch.

Meg and James were told to walk down to the village and buy a huge list of items. Meg thought they'd got the best job, Lily argued that hers was definitely better.

James thought that Lily had gotten the best job too, it was certainly less cold and a lot easier, but he figured as long as he was with Meg no job would be too awful. James and Meg had bundled up as warm as they could before trudging down to the village. Scarves, hats, sweatshirts, jackets, thick socks, and boots on top of jeans and long sleeved shirts. Their arms were hooked in typical Meg and James style and hands tucked in pockets. The air was so chilly that clouds of breath fogged up the air in front of their faces and their boots stomped and crunched down on previously fallen snow.

"It's gorgeous, isn't it?" James glanced at Meg with her pink cheeks, her bright blue eyes, which were reflecting the snow. Her hair cascaded down over her ears, shoulder and stopped mid-back, curling wildly as perusal. He glanced back at the landscape where she stared.

"Yeah, gorgeous." James agreed lightly. They chatted and joked as they walked to the village.

"Alright, first stop..." James glanced down at the list his mother had given him. "Wrapping paper?" He had no clue where to even begin looking.

"Probably in that store." Meg pointed to a store named "Edna's Home Goods"

James crooked an eyebrow at her. "Edna?" Meg shrugged in response.

"Come on." She dragged James into the small store, it appeared to be a type of muggle craft store. The display window had a Christmas tree with paper decorations and white fluffy cotton on the ground. There were also wooden dolls propped up beside fake presents, with cheery smiles painted onto their faces.

"Creepy." James muttered to Meg, who elbowed him and hushed him.

"We don't want them to hear us." She hissed back jokingly. The two chuckled and entered the small store. It was very warm inside. The heat engulfed them, chasing away their frozen pink noses and numb fingers.

It smelled like candles. Vanilla candles. A warm and welcoming scent that the two wizards weren't used to. They both breathed in deeply, attempting to suck in as much of the warm sweet atmosphere as possible.

"Welcome dears. How can I help you?" The woman was old and had a smile as sweet as the smell of her shop. Meg grinned back at the lady.

"We are looking for wrapping paper." The woman nodded slowly in thought.

"Yes, it's this way, follow me." James and Meg followed the woman silently to the back corner of the store. The older woman stopped and gestured to a wall of wrapping paper rolls.

"Pick any you like dears. I'm Edna by the way, what's your names?"

"Meg Wood and James Potter." Meg stuck out a hand to shake the womans after she introduced herself.

"What a cute couple you are!" She cooed as James began to pick out wrapping paper.

"Oh no, no. We aren't-" They both began. The woman ignored them however and continued talking.

"It's very rare to get young sweet couples in. Kids these days, always on their technology and…." She continued on as Meg and James shared a concerned glance. James grabbed the first wrapping paper rolls he could get his hands on.

"Here! We want these." James grabbed Meg's arm and started moving towards the cash register in the front of the store. Meg figured that he was hoping to herd Edna to the front so that they could pay and make their escape. The plan seemed to be working as Edna followed slowly continuing her chatter about teens and technology and how it was ruining society.

They'd finally been rung up and payed and they both gave hasty good byes before running from the store. Edna waved and called goodbye to them.

"Thank Merlin we're out!" They gasped after they'd turned down a corner away from the small craft store. James turned to face Meg still huffing.

"What's a sell foon?"

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><p>Meg and James had completed their chores and were now strewn across the couch. Their feet were stacked and tangled in the other's as they chatted. They planned on remaining in that position until it was time for dinner, as they were tired from all of the walking they'd done.<p>

The living room was a pretty sight. Lily and Teddy had done a fantastic job. The tree was large and took up most of the room. It had fairy lights and floating candles, charmed by Teddy no doubt. The fire was lit and warmed the room nicely. James knew that in a couple of days that fire would be spewing out relatives in a nonstop stream. Until then though, he'd enjoy the emptiness of the room and the coziness in relaxation with Meg.

"James! James are you in here?" Lily came speeding into the room, dragging Scorpius behind her. He nearly groaned at his little sister's excitement. So much for resting until dinner….

"Oh good! Hugo and Rose just arrived and Hugo asked if we could play quidditch. I've found Scorpius and I'm looking for Al now. Will you two join?" Lily bounced on her feet eagerly.

"I'd love to Lil. James?" Meg smiled kindly and James nodded. He stretched out his tired muscles in preparation, hitting Meg in the process. She shot him a look as he responded to Lily.

"Definitely! I'm always up for quidditch!" Lily grinned widely.

"Excellent! Don't let Scorp leave." She pushed Scorpius towards them and began to run from the room. "Meet us outside?" She called over her shoulder before running from the room and screaming "Al!"

James and Meg untangled themselves from the couch, a difficult feat. James ended up on the ground and Meg fell back onto the couch. She stood and when James attempted to lift himself as well she shoved him back down.

"That was for the foot in the stomach." She explained at his confused expression.

"I was stretching!" She shrugged and hooked her arm through Scorpius' and began to walk out to the back yard. "Oi, wait up!" James hopped to his feet and hurried after the other two.

The back yard was prepared for a Potter-Weasley quidditch match. There were long hoops sticking out of the ground, just as tall as the third story of the house, a good deal shorter than the hoops at Hogwarts or real stadiums. Beside a chest stood Rose and Hugo. Meg greeted them with a smile and friendly wave.

Lily came running out of the house followed by Albus, Teddy and Victoire. James' eyebrows raised in surprize at the sight of the disgruntled Victoire and Teddy. He hadn't even known Vic was here. Both Vic and Teddy had messy hair and flushed faces. Teddy's shirt was half tucked into his pants and one of the sleeves on Victoire's shirt hung off her shoulder. James winked at Teddy. Teddy's face and hair were taking on a red tint. He was beginning to look much more Weasley like.

"Vic will be ref." Lily called happily. Victoire didn't appear too happy about that, but she didn't disagree either. Instead she sat in the designated referee chair beside the score board. The scoreboard was enchanted to tally points anytime one team scored, all the referee had to do was call out the team and how many points.

The group split into two teams. Captains were voted and ended up being Meg and Teddy. James pouted after that until Meg chose him as her first player with a wink. The choosing continued until the teams were Teddy, Lily, Rose and Albus versus Meg, James, Scorpius, and Hugo.

The game was interesting. Meg and Scorpius were used to working together and made good chasers, James didn't find it hard to join in on their fluidity as he and Meg knew each other well enough to guess the other's next moves. Hugo was a perfect seeker as he was still small and slight. He practised as often as the others and had keen eyes.

Teddy, Rose and Albus had an excellent strategy that Rose had come up with in less than two minutes. She was impressively smart that way. The strategy seemed to work well and everytime Meg, James or Scorpius thought they'd figured it out it would surprise them with a new part. Lily was the seeker as she was the smallest and fastest out of the others. She was also more likely to do crazy dives, even though Albus was Gryffindor's actual seeker.

The two teams were fairly evenly matched as Potter's and Weasley's loved a good game of quidditch and could play for hours before becoming bored.

Victoire found it hard to be completely unbiased and would groan or cheer for Teddy. She kept the penalties to a minimum as the players were pretty good about preventing maimings and major injuries, especially since they didn't use bludgers or beaters in their games.

The chasers tossed around a ball that had been bought from the muggle village, it was white with black checkers and was on the smaller side. There had been larger ones available as well, but they'd chosen a size closest to an actual quaffle.

James passed to Meg, who dodged Teddy, passed to Scorpius. The ball was intercepted by Albus, who passed to Teddy. Teddy's hold on the ball wasn't tight enough as Meg stole it back. Lily and Hugo eyed each other suspiciously and kept their eyes wide in search of the snitch, an actual one that they'd charmed to be less adept at flying. Lily's eyes were comically wide in her search and Hugo kept chuckling everytime he'd catch sight of her face.

Before the snitch could be caught there was a loud call from the house. "Dinner!" Ginny grinned at her children and guests as each hurried to land, flung their brooms to the side and raced for the dining room.

Harry was finishing cooking and exiting with platters of delicious smelling food. Each of the children were exhausted from playing and also starving. They dug into the dishes with an energy they'd thought they'd lost about an hour earlier.

"Looks great dad!" James said through a mouthful of mashed potatoes.

"Tastes great too." Meg added after chewing and swallowing a few green beans. The other's mumbled their agreement, causing Ginny and Harry to laugh and shake their heads.

"Manners." Ginny reminds them all half-heartedly.

"Sorry mum." They all chorused cheekily.

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><p><strong>Please Review! Hope everyone's weeks are going well so far :)<strong>

**Thanks- Jenn**


	19. Christmas!

**Thank you for favoriting/alerting!**

**Driver's Ed is over! Now I just have to do all my driving hours...**

**SamanthaRenee17: That sucks so much! I've never had a concussion and I hope I never will. I hope yours goes away soon! Glad you enjoyed the last chapter. Here's a new one that I hope you enjoy as well!**

**Twilight-Narnie-Charmed****: glad you liked it!**

**Disclaimer - I don't own HP.**

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><p><em>Chapter 19: Christmas<em>

It was 5:00 in the morning and every one in the house was sleeping peacefully. The children tucked under their covers and parents cuddled in each other's arms. The presents rested under the tree, sorted and organized by direct families, waiting to be opened. Small snores were escaping under the cracks of Al's and James' rooms. While quiet sighs and murmurings were heard from behind Lily's door.

"CHRISTMAAAAAS!" The yell echoed throughout the whole house.

It was 5:04 on Christmas morning and everything was chaos. Teddy had sat up so fast in his bed that he'd fallen off of it with loud thump, his blankets and pillows tumbling after him. Lily had screamed, Rose sprang to her feet eyes wide, while Scorpius' loud curses could be heard from the first floor. Ron had ended up half-way off his bed, the blankets tangling him enough to hold him half-on, he swore louder than Scorpius as Hermione shushed him. Harry and Ginny had both merely groaned and smacked hands over their eyes.

It was 5:06 and everyone was running down the stairs. Their feet sounded like a stampede of wild, angry, animals. Wild, angry, animals that were ready to rip the one who'd awoken them to small pieces.

James and Al sat in front of the Christmas tree, beaming at each other in satisfaction. Every year they'd been the first to wake up and they always pulled a similar stunt to awaken the rest of the household. They were firm believers that it was impossible to sleep when so many presents were calling their names.

"James Sirius Potter and Albus Severus Potter you two are in so much trouble." Ginny glared, her hands on her hips. The boys' gleeful laughter came to an abrupt end. Their mother was in full scary, anger mode. She'd even middle named them.

The silence was broken by small giggles from behind the group of angry half-awake people.

"I've made pancakes." The others turned to find Meg peaking into the living room door. "That is if you want them." They did indeed want them.

At 5:20 everyone in the Potter household was seated at the large dining table, serving themselves breakfast. Meg had made more than just pancakes. Eggs, bacon, and sausages were also available on the dining table. All of which were piping hot as they'd just been finished. Meg walked in with a plate of toast and all sorts of jellies.

The sweet aroma of the food was wafting to each nose and causing mouths to water. The smells had been previously unnoticed because of the state of uproar everyone had been in. Now, however, food was the only thing on everyone's minds. The stuffing of faces commenced and James and Al's wake-up was forgotten.

"You're brilliant woman!" James hugged Meg, speaking with a mouthful of bacon.

"Thank you." She sat beside him and he retook his seat as well. Meg leaned forward and whispered to James with a smile. "I overheard you and Al talking last night, thought I'd make a distraction from the trouble you two might cause."

James chuckled and passed some of the food to Meg. "Thanks for having my back." She winked in response.

"This is delicious." Ron spoke through a mouthful of food. Hermione and Ginny both reached over to smack him.

"Manners." They chided in unison. Harry glanced at his friend and shook his head, before turning to Meg.

"You didn't have to do this Meg. I would've been fine making breakfast." She shrugged in response.

"It's perfectly alright. I always make breakfast for Christmas, have since 3rd year. It's sort of tradition for me." She explained.

"Well this is the best food I've ever had." James exclaimed. Both his parents, his aunt, and Lily all gasped and feigned hurt expressions. Meg chuckled as James eyes grew comically wide in fear. "I mean tied with mum, dad, and aunt Hermione." He backtracked quickly. Lily gasped again.

"I've made you cookies!" She squeaked in indignation.

"I meant breakfast food." He clarified. Everyone was chuckling into their food as they watched James eat his words.

"What about grandma Molly's?" Al inquired innocently.

"And Hogwarts?" Meg added.

James was overly flustered. Sputtering for a few moments before the table could no longer contain their laughter. They burst forward in joyful bouts.

"I hate you all." James muttered.

"No you don't. I fed you." Meg responded smartly.

"Food is the key to his heart." Rose nodded matter of factly.

"Oi! Not you too Rosie. Merlin, is today take the mickey out of James day?"

"No that was the the 18th." Lily reminded James of the day they all came home for the Holidays.

"Then why are you so mean to me?" He whined.

"You did wake them all up." Meg said.

"Al helped." He defended. Teddy nodded at James.

"True." He turned to face Al. "So Al I notice you don't have a girlfriend yet, will you ever have one." Al's mouth fell open wide. Everyone was guffawing as Al spluttered out a response.

"W-what?" He desperately attempted to change the subject back to James by pointing an accusing finger towards him and saying "Neither does he." James glared at Al.

"Yeah, but he has Meg." Lily pointed out. "She's much better." The others murmured their agreement.

"Anyone who can cook this good is awesome." Teddy spoke as he held a piece of toast and waved it back and forth, gesturing at all the food.

"You have no excuses Al, there isn't a single girl in your life." James grinned maniacally.

"Are you gay?" Lily asked innocently.

Al spit out his pumpkin juice. "No!" He yelped. "Why are you picking on me Lily?"

"I like my sleep, thank you very much." She said, nose in the air. More loud laughter echoed from around the table.

After breakfast was finished and cleaned up, the group seated themselves in the living room. The Potters, Ron, Hermione and their children always exchanged gifts before the rest of the family came together. Each direct family would open gifts at home alone and then would open their pile at the house they were collecting at later. Gift giving and receiving was an art in the large Weasley family.

Lily and Hugo had already begun opening their piles of presents. James and Al were ripping into their own piles soon after. Rose unwrapped her gifts calmly, folding the paper back up after she'd taken it off the gift. Scorpius had a small pile of gifts that his parents had sent him as well as presents from Harry and Ginny, Al, Rose, Lily, and Meg. Meg watched the adults open their presents, chatting and acting just as goofy as their children were.

"Aren't you going to open yours?" James asked her and she nodded at him, smiling.

"Yeah, which is my pile?" Meg didn't expect many gifts. Maybe a few from her parents, one from James, Layla and Hannah, but not much more. James motioned to a pile that was much larger than she'd expected. She pulled the pile towards her and began opening.

Her parents had sent her a new broomstick and some new clothes. The broomstick was an unreleased model, but considering who her dad was it was fairly easy for him to pull a few strings. Her Aunt Gwenog had sent her a book called; The Best Quidditch Plays In History, something Meg was looking forward to reading. Layla and Hannah had chipped in to buy her a pair of boots she'd expressed interest in when shopping with them once. Al and Scorp gave her chocolate frogs and other candies, Fred sent Zonkos products, Lily had baked her cookies and put them in a clear bag that was tied with ribbon, other friends from school had sent her candies and small trinkets. She was surprised when all her presents were open and she didn't have one from James.

"Don't think I forgot you." James voice was soft and close to her. In his hands was a small velvet box, he handed it over to her. Meg lifted the lid off the box. A small note rested on top of the gift.

Meg -

Happy Christmas and all that. I'm no good at gift giving, but I've heard girls like jewelry. Of course I couldn't get you any random necklace or bracelet… when I saw this though, it just screamed MEG!

- James

Meg removed the note and beneath was a silver necklace. Hanging from it was a silver snake with sapphire blue eyes, wrapped around the golden snitch. She smiled at the silver piece of jewelry.

"This is ridiculously sweet." She told James. He shrugged nonchalantly, but looked incredibly relieved. He offered to clasp the necklace around her neck. The others watched as she held up her hair and allowed him to. "Thank you."

Her fingers traced the snake and she turned to face him. He shrugged again.

"No big deal." Al scoffed and Lily covered a giggle at their brother's words.

It was no secret that James was crap at gift giving. He'd given Teddy a tea cozy one year and his mother had received motor oil for one of her birthdays. He had attempted to defend himself claiming that he'd thought motor oil helped clean thing. This was the first time he'd picked out a meaningful gift.

"Woah! No way!" Lily had let out the shriek and jumped to her feet. "It's the new Halle Griffiths book!" She held the book aloft in the air, surveying it with awe.

"I noticed you had all the others." Meg laughed at Lily's expression.

"It isn't even out yet!" Lily squeaked.

"It's not a big deal. My mother is friends with her and I dated her son for a bit." Lily hopped from foot to foot and then sprang forward, hugging Meg hard. The next excited squeal came from Rose who also held a book aloft.

"It's signed!" Meg nodded.

"It's a bit of a regift. I already read it and thought you might like it. It's the original edition with added annotations from the author." Rose grinned and thanked Meg with a wide grin.

"Me next!" Al yelped, searching for his gift from Meg. Hugo, Scorpius, James and Teddy searched for theirs as well in an excited panic. They shuffled through the ripped paper and leftover wrappings quickly. Scorpius and Al found theirs at the same time and began ripping them open excitedly.

"Merlin!" They both shouted. Scorpius had a new broom as his had been acting up lately. Al held two tickets to see his favorite wizard band, the Screaming Banshees, in concert.

"I have to admit Scorp, that's more of a gift to me, I want you at your best for games." Both boys sprinted outside to test out Scorpius' new broom. Meg even allowed Al to take out her old broom so they could race.

She'd gotten each of the adults and Teddy gifts that were equally meaningful as the others had been. Meg was good at noticing small details about people and gift giving was one of her fortes.

James opened his gift, it contained three items. The first a card that he read with a smile. The next caused him to let out a girly squeal. It was a Gwenog Jones poster that had been signed. The last item made his mouth fall open. It was a Puddlemere United jersey with Wood's number and name on the back. That wasn't the best part though, the whole jersey was covered in signatures from the whole team.

"Bloody hell." He muttered in shock.

"Language James." Ginny half-heartedly chided. She was too excited for her son herself to actually reprimand him.

"Sorry mum." He managed to choke out. He turned to Meg in amazement. "You're bloody amazing! How did you-" James found himself unable to finish his sentence.

"So you like it then?" Meg giggled as James yanked her in for a huge hug.

Click, FLASH!

Neither noticed as Hermione snapped a picture with her new camera.

"I love it! I'm going to go put it on right now." He sped away from the room to change. The other's followed his lead, remembering that they were still in their pyjamas.

Hermione gave everyone a reminder to change quickly as the rest of the family could be arriving at any moment. Ginny cursed in remembrance and threw her clothes on quickly to help Harry start food preparations.

It was 7:36 on Christmas morning and the Potter household was dressed and awaiting the many guests that were soon to join them.

.

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><p><strong>The next update may take awhile because I've written most of it in a notebook, which I've misplaced. I know which notebook its in, I just can't find it! I may end up rewriting it and just being unsatisfied if I can't find the notebook within a week or so. <strong>

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**Thanks- Jenn**


	20. Christmas Continued

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**Hope everyone had a good veterans day (whether you celebrate it or not :)**

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**This chapter is kind of short, sorry! **

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><p><em>Chapter 20: Christmas Continued<em>

All of the adults were dancing. Most of the children had run inside by now and were playing with their new toys and gadgets or the others' new things. Teddy, Victoire, James and Meg all sat on the porch watching the parents dance to the music that hummed from the small radio. The music had been enchanted louder for it to be heard better and it was perfect for the slow shifting dance between couples.

"Vic?" Teddy had stood and offered his hand to Victoire. She accepted with a smile and the two began to dance as well. Meshing in with the other couples in a perfect harmony.

"What do you say?" James asked Meg. She smiled and stood. Their hands grasped and they began spinning.

James noticed instantly that Meg's balance had suddenly disappeared. She giggled out an apology as she stepped on his foot and spun outwards. Her movements were too wild and disorganized for the music, but James didn't much mind. They rocked on their feet and she spun again, her hair whirling around her.

"You're a terrible dancer." The voice was Fred's. He stood near the two, a huge grin on his face as he attempted to contain his ready laughter.

"Me?" Meg inquired, at his nod she giggled. "I know. I've always been terrible. I even took lessons. Four years." James and Fred sniggered at that.

She grabbed one of Fred's hands and kept her other hand inside of James and yanked the two in a spinning circle.

The three laughed as they spun and hopped at random. They knew they must've looked absolutely ridiculous, but the couldn't bring themselves to care.

Eventually they became dizzy enough that they couldn't spin any more and ended up falling onto their backs. The stars had begun to twinkle slowly into view and the music had quieted. The three lay staring at the sky in the grass until the last of the parents had trickled inside.

"I love Christmas." James sighed in content.

"Me too." Meg grinned.

"Me three!" Fred added on. "Best holiday ever." James rolled his eyes at Fred's enthusiasm.

"You say that about every holiday, mother's day included." Fred grabbed a handful of grass, yanked it up and dumped it onto James' face.

"So what?" He stuck his tongue out and flicked more grass at James.

"So you'll never be a mother." Fred threw another handful of grass at James. "Oi cut it out!" James sprang at Fred, the two rolled around and yanked grass out to rub in each other's faces. Meg laughed from the sidelines until grass was thrown her way.

"You'll regret that!" She exclaimed and joined the fray with gusto. The three rolled around and only stopped when Ginny yelled at them to come inside.

They stood with grass covering every part of them, dirt spots on their clothes and smudged on their faces and their hair in complete tangled messes. The largest grins anyone had ever seen were plastered on their faces as they raced inside.

Ginny sighed at the sight of them, but decided it wasn't worth it to yell at them. It was Christmas after all and she was much too tired to give a lecture.

"Fred, honestly?" Angelina shook her head at her son in amusement. George patted his son on the back and winked. "We are leaving now." Angelina ushered her husband and children away, all of which were calling out excessive 'goodbye's and 'love you's to those still awake in the Potter house.

Ginny shooed the children still remaining at the Potter house up to their beds. She'd successfully gotten them up the stairs and started for bed after around twenty minutes. She let out a huge sigh and flopped into her own bed gratefully.

"Night dear." Harry whispered in response to her tired groan.

"Night." She muttered back, receiving a kiss.

It was 11:59 on Christmas night and everyone was fast asleep.

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><p>Christmas vacation was over before James had a chance to blink and they were back at Hogwarts before he could even manage a single protestation. It was disappointing to have to go back to classes and homework, but on the bright side James was excited to see Alfie again.<p>

The two were reunited at the platform. Hugging and chatting over each other about their vacations.

"and then Meg and I found a leprechaun, a real live leprechaun! He was a grumpy bugger, yelled at us to-"

"Well mum and dad took me to see a dragon show. The stadiums were bigger than the quidditch ones, I mean they have to be becau-"

"Meg jumped off the roof! Swore she was practicing her levitation spell. I told her, 'you aren't supposed to practice on yourself'. She's mental!" The two continued on, barely letting the other finish before jumping in with the next story. They hadn't finished their stories until they both lay in their dorm rooms and prepared themselves to sleep.

"I'm glad to be back. I missed you." James whispered to Alfie, slightly too loudly considering his dorm mates were already asleep.

"Bet you missed classes too, we've got them tomorrow. Bright and early." Alfie's reminder elicited a loud groan from James.

"Oi, shut it!" Brendan Whitby yelled. The dorm was silent as the boys slept.

The next morning they'd be back to classes and vacation would be officially over.

.

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><p><strong>Please, <span>please<span>, _please_ Review!**

**Thanks- Jenn**


	21. Party Time

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**SamanthaRenee17: they have! Thanks for the review as always! I hope your concussion is getting better!**

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**Grazielly: Okay. :P**

**Diyame: If you're only here for scorlily then I suggest you stop reading. Sorry to ****disappoint, but this is mainly a James story. There will be eventual Scor/lily but for now I've only been dropping slight hints in and I'm focusing on the main characters. **

**Disclaimer - I don't own HP.**

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><p><em>Chapter 21: Party Time<em>

"How do you manage to remember every recipe for potions, but you can't remember a quill?" James muttered as he scrambled along in his bag to hand Meg one of his quills. He'd found that whenever he sat beside her in a class she was always asking for a quill. She stuck her tongue out in response.

After a couple minutes of hurried, scribbled note copying James glanced over at Meg.

"Psst." He slid a note across his desk to her. She opened the note conspicuously. Her fingers softly unfolded the paper quietly.

_Alfie's birthday is on the 8th, this friday._

She read the note and scribbled back a quick response.

_And…?_

_And I thought we should throw him a surprise party. That's what we always do._

_Sure! Sounds super fun! What should I do?_

_Make sure Hannah, Layla and yourself are their. Especially Hannah._

Meg giggled at that, she disguised the noise with a quick cough as Professor Boot glanced towards them suspiciously. James snorted, causing Professor Boot to glance over at James and Meg again. The two sat up straighter and flashed equally innocent faces for Professor Boot. They pretended to scribble down the newest notes that he'd put on the board. Once He'd turned back around Meg tossed James the note.

_Sounds perfectly lovely, can't wait!_

_When's your birthday then? Throwing parties for eachother is kind of tradition._

_Sorry to say that you missed it then. It was 15 October._

_:(_

James drew the sad face with vigor, earning a smile from Meg. The bell let out a loud ring, signaling the end of double potions and the start of James' next class, transfiguration. Meg went up on tiptoes and kissed James' cheek.

"See you at lunch."

"Bye!" James watched her run off with a smile. He grabbed at Alfie, having to quite literally drag him away from Hannah.

"Come on, you know Caruso hates when we're late." Alfie groaned at the mention of their strict Transfiguration teacher.

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><p>James and Fred spent the whole week planning Alfie's party. Although it was technically a surprise party Alfie knew it was coming. The boys had made it a habit to throw each other not-so-surprise parties every year for their birthdays. Each one was better than the year before with hotter girls, better music and tastier food.<p>

The majority of the decorations and set-up was taken care of. People had begun streaming in through the Fat Lady's portrait. She seemed annoyed by the amount of times she was forced to open and let in the surplus of guests. James had stationed Miguel Cabrera, one of his and Alfie's dorm mates, outside in the hall to whisper the password and let people with invites in. Many people were attempting to sneak in with no success. Those who had been invited bounced with excitement, knowing this would surely be the new party of the year. James beginning of the year birthday had been spectacular, but no doubt this would be even better.

"Hey." Meg's voice startled James, he spun around to see her. He inhaled hard.

Meg was in a lovely light blue dress. It was swooped low at the top, cinched at the waist and had a short pleated skirt. Her long, tan legs looked spectacular with the light color, as did her very blue eyes. Her hair was its usual curly mess, but the front had been braided back to the sides. She held a matching blue clutch, that James suspected held more than just her wand.

"Bloody hell you look good." He blushed at his inarticulate words, but she let out a laugh. Her head tilted back slightly, causing her silver eye shadow to catch the lighting.

"Thank you. I'm here to tell you that Hannah is bringing him now. They'll be here in a minute? I've already brought Miguel in." James almost panicked.

"Everyone hide now!" His deafening yell was heeded. Every single person hid except three. James and Fred had planned this. Three students sat in the common room dressed in their school robes, feigning normal activities. Meg shouldered on her robes as well and joined Fred and James on the couch. James and Fred flicked their wands and cast delusionment spells on the decorations and people. Everyone held their breath in suspense.

The plan was to actually surprise Alfie. Since Alfie knew the surprise party was coming, he'd be expecting it everytime he walked into the Gryffindor common room. However, he would let his guard down the second he walked in and saw no party decorations. All he'd see when he first walked in was the normal looking common room and a couple people doing homework and chatting. Fred and James concentrated hard on imagining the way they wanted Alfie to see the common room.

Alfie walked in behind Hannah who was talking at full speed. He'd glanced around briefly and then back to Hannah. He'd not seen anything suspicious.

"Hey Han! Alfie!" Meg waved her hand at her friends. The two glanced over. Hannah also wore her school robes. They covered her full body, which was unusual as she liked to flaunt her attractive curves to all of Hogwarts. Alfie hadn't seemed to question it though, or if he had he'd let it go.

"What's going on?" Alfie asked pleasantly.

"Oh just… you know" At the same time Fred and James flicked their wands.

"A SURPRISE PARTY!" All the inhabitants of the room screamed. They were now visible, as were all the decorations and set up that Fred and James had done.

Alfie's face was completely shocked at first, it then morphed into a huge grin. Hannah and the other's had shrugged off their school robes to reveal their party wear. Music had filled the room. A band stood where a platform had been created. James and Fred flicked their wands again to move the couch and furniture out of the way.

"How'd you manage to get the Golden Goblins to play?" Alfie was astounded as he attempted to take everything in. The party was already bumping. People were dancing to the newly started song, others were helping themselves to food from the floating trays around the room or drinks from the drink table. James and Fred winked in synch.

"Magic." They said. Alfie rolled his eyes, but didn't get a chance to respond.

"Come drink and dance with me. This is one of their best songs!" Hannah handed Alfie a drink and grabbed his hand. They were gone in a flash, Hannah dragging Alfie and already tossing her hair around to the beat of the song.

"So how'd you actually get them?" Meg inquired.

"The lead singer owed my dad a favor." James shrugged. He glanced over at Meg and then at the band. "Dance?" He asked Meg with a smile. She shrugged, returning his smile and responding with her own question.

"Haven't you heard? I'm not a very good dancer." James grasped one of her hands and pulled her out to the dance floor.

"I have." He nodded. She pouted her lip and narrowed her eyes.

"Gee, thanks." She said false upset.

"No one is good at everything," His voice was semi-serious as the two spun in an unnatural tempo. "even those of us who appear like we are."

"Oh?" James spun her out and she spun back much too fast for the slower beat song that was playing. "and who appears good at everything exactly?"

"Well me of course." James grinned widely. "Sadly, I do have one thing I'm quite bad at." Meg waited for him to continue.

"What's that?" She played along.

"Relationships." He sighed faux sadly. "I'm just too fantastic for girl's to handle. It always ruins the relationship before it's started." Meg laughed loudly. A few people near her glanced at her in question.

"That's almost true. I've heard your longest relationship was a week."

"Two and a half weeks!" James defended quickly.

"Pardon, so sorry." Her words were laced with giggles. James narrowed his eyes and spun her out again, yanking her back in a little harder than necessary. Instead of tripping into him though, Meg leaped gracefully and kept on her feet. Despite her terrible dancing, she was rather nimble. He pouted at his failure to trip her up a bit.

They continued dancing and chatting.

"This is a great party!" She told him a little while later. The two had ceased dancing now and instead stood beside one of the tables laden in food and drink. They'd both grabbed cups of alcohol and were drinking enthusiastically.

The younger students were unable to touch the drink table. James and Fred had perfected the charm that Alfie had insisted they use ages ago. 5th, 6th and 7th years could grab drinks and 5th years could only get some until a certain time of night. They boys loved parties and fun, but they didn't want drunk firsties puking and tumbling everywhere.

Meg was on her fifth drink and James his sixth.

"I need some air. I'm s' hot!" Meg's face was indeed flushed. James followed her, both of them stumbling, from the portrait hole. The door swung shut, locking in the cacophonous party noises behind it. "Thas a little bettaaar." Meg giggled at her slurred speech. "Com'on." She dragged James behind her down halls and up staircases.

They ended up in the astronomy tower. It was a good deal cooler there and it felt great on their flushed faces and bodies. James would later wonder how the two of them had made it all the way to the astronomy tower. They'd been loud and quite drunkenly stumbling to it and it was a wonder that no teacher had caught them.

"Pretty." Meg smiled at the stars that were a bit blurrier than normal. James nodded and chuckled.

"Yeah." They sat down abruptly. They sat close beside each other and looked out at the stars. They were silent, but only for a moment. James felt like he had to say something, he turned to the Meg and watched her for a moment.

"I like ya Meh." James slurred out. He turned to look at her. She was yawning.

"Hmm." Her head fell on his shoulder and she was blinking with heavy eyelids. She obviously hadn't heard him or hadn't comprehended what he'd said.

"I- sleep." She curled against James side and fell asleep. James laid back and closed his eyes too. He thought that he'd just rest his eyes for a moment...

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><p>The bright sun woke James. It was streaming into his unprotected eyes quite persistently. He groaned and reached out for his bed hangings. They weren't there. He realized then that his back and butt were aching from the hard surface that he was laying on and his head was pounding. A movement beside him told him that what he'd thought was his blanket wasn't. He peeked his eyes open and saw Meg. He groaned as the pounding in his head increased.<p>

"Morning." Meg's voice was muffled in James shirt. He realized she must've been attempting to hide her eyes from the bright sun too. He grunted back at her.

She sat slowly, back facing the window. Her form blocked the sun enough for James to be able to see. His headache was still as persistent as before.

"My head." He managed to groan out.

"Yeah. I know, mine too." Meg grabbed at her small clutch and opened it up. James was surprised that she'd managed to keep it with her all night considering how drunk they'd been. She pulled a bottle out of the bag. He smiled slightly.

This was a familiar sight to him. The first time he and Meg had talked she'd pulled out a very similar flask from her bag and gulped it down as she was now. This time she only drank half and offered the other half to James. He accepted it gratefully.

He made a disgusted face as the liquid burned his throat and mouth. It tasted terrible, but was well worth it.

Meg glanced around at the small mess James and Meg had managed to make in the small amount of time their drunk selves had been awake. A half drank cup had been kicked over and spilled. Another empty cup was crushed and broken in three pieces scattered on the floor. A couple tissues and a lipstick was scattered along the floor as well.

"The common room is gonna be a mess." Meg said pointedly. James knew she was right. He groaned loudly and hid his hands in his face. He had to go clean up.

.

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><p><strong>I've been pretty busy what with the end of the school year approaching. I swear every teacher HAS to give their last quiz, test, essay AND project before finals.<strong>

** "Let's give you all theses things to do and on top of it study for finals!" - Every teacher **

**AH! But anyways, that's why I've been busy. Hopefully over the summer I can update more frequently.**

**ALSO OMG THE NEXT CHAPTER HAS SO MUCH EXCITEMENT! I've written half of it, but I know what's going to happen and I think it'll be slightly shocking? You should review to remind me to update quickly. You know because otherwise I might forget and you'll never see the exciting chapter. Jk. Seriously you should review though. **

**Love you guys.**

**Thanks- Jenn**


	22. Fights and Detention

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**Just-Keep-Dreaming004: Thanks for the reminder! I updated because of it.**

**Wunderlust. xo: I know! Luckily school is over for me as well. No more work! Well, except for my three summer reading books...**

**Disclaimer - I don't own HP.**

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><p><em>Chapter 22: Fights and Detention<em>

Meg was glad that she'd gotten through her first week back from vacation. She felt tired already and couldn't believe that the next vacation wasn't until April. The hangover drought had taken away her headache, but it hadn't stopped her from being entirely exhausted. She'd already helped James clean the common room and eaten lunch. She was completely ready to throw herself onto her bed and take a small, well-deserved nap. The day was bitter cold and it was snowing outside so she figured it was the perfect weather for taking a nap.

However, upon entering her dorm she heard a noise that made her stop in her tracks. The noise was muffled crying.

"Layla, what's the matter?" She'd crossed to her friend's bed in record time and sat down beside her. She patted Layla's shoulder gently.

"N-nothing." The blonde girl sniffed out. Meg rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"Come on sweetie, you can tell me." She coaxed while rubbing Layla's back. Layla took a shuddering breath and turned to face Meg slowly. Her face was puffy, red, and tear-streaked. It nearly broke Meg's heart in half to see.

"It's just…" Layla sniffed and whispered more words carefully. "Some boy said that I didn't belong in Slytherin. H-he said I wasn't anywhere near clever enough and that I- that I was better suited as a m-muggle since I'm a filthy m-mudblood." She sniffed again before continuing. "I know it's not really that big of a deal and I probably shouldn't be cr-"

Meg cut Layla off angrily.

"Who is this enormous wanker?" Layla glanced up through teary eyes at Meg.

"What?" Meg's eyes were blazing and she'd stood quickly from the bed. Her hands were bunched into tight fists. She repeated herself.

"Who was the arse faced wanker that said that bull?"

"Ralph Fawley." Layla responded slowly. "I think he's a Ravenclaw." She appeared confused as Meg began walking towards the door.

"I'll be right back." Meg's voice was unmistakably filled with rage. Layla's eyes went wide and she jumped up from the bed to follow after her.

"No Meg-" Meg was already gone from the room and storming down the stairs. "Please don't do anything stupid!" Layla yelled to Meg's back slightly horrified.

Meg knew that she was probably about to do something very stupid. She couldn't bring herself to care though. Once she'd stormed from the Slytherin common room she realized she had no clue where Ralph Fawley might be. Her temper was boiling and she was ready to blow. Her feet paced quickly back and forth as she thought of what to do. The idea came to her suddenly.

She ran for the Gryffindor common room. She had a fairly clear path there as almost everyone was either in their dorms, the library, or their common rooms. She ran up to the Fat Lady's portrait and spat out the password she'd used from the other night.

The Fat Lady scowled at her. "How rude!" She huffed.

"Yes, yes, just open." The Fat Lady swung open grumbling after Meg's form. She slipped into the common room and saw just the person she'd been looking for.

"James." The word was a snarl and she ran for the boy. He looked up from his game of exploding snaps as Meg came charging towards him. His eyes went wide instantly.

"Meg?" She grabbed his arm and hissed in his ear.

"I need the map." He stood slowly and viewed her carefully.

"Meg? What's going on?"

"Is it in your dorm?" She tore up the boy's staircase, not waiting for him to answer her. James ran up after her.

"Meg!" He shouted with shock. Meg began digging through James' trunk until she'd found a blank piece of parchment. She unrolled it and pointed her wand at it.

"I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good!" The words did what she'd hoped. The map unfurled itself. "Where is he?" She hissed at the map, searching swiftly.

"Meg are you okay? Who are y-"

"Found him." Meg's finger was pointed at Ralph Fawley's name with satisfaction. She tapped the map and it returned to a plain piece of parchment. She jumped to her feet again and was sprinting away.

Ralph Fawley was at the quidditch pitch.

James followed after Meg and grabbed her arm, he spun her around to face him.

"What's going on?" He shouted at her.

"I'm going to murder Ralph Fawley." She told him with heavy breaths.

"Why's that?" James asked in concern. He'd never seen Meg so pissed.

"He made Layla cry." Her voice was less angry and more upset now. It cracked with emotion.

"How?" James wanted to know.

"That pureblood brat said she wasn't clever enough to be a witch. He called her a mudblood!" Meg's teeth were clenched.

"Let's go." James nodded and turned.

"You don't have to come." Meg stopped him. "In fact you probably shouldn't, I don't want you to get a detention." James scoffed at that.

"Please, I practically live in detention. Maybe you're the one who shouldn't go." Meg sighed but was off again. James followed her, keeping pace besides her this time.

They shoved out of the doors of the castle and huddled through the snow drifting down around them. They'd forgotten about the cold and it didn't seem to bother either of them as they ran to the pitch. The snow hadn't stuck to the ground yet so it wasn't too difficult to maneuver.

"You could lose your badge Meg." James warned her. She simply rolled her eyes.

"It'll only be my first detention. I'll be fine." They were nearly at the field now.

"Do you have a plan?" James asked through heavy breaths.

"Not particularly." Meg muttered. Her eyes were locked on a figure across the field. James cleaned off his glasses and was able to tell that it was Ralph Fawley.

Meg sprinted the rest of the way to the boy. She didn't stop herself even as she got closer to Fawley. Her body slammed into his, taking him down. Her fists flew at his face. James stopped and watched her slam on him for a moment. The Hufflepuff quidditch captain, who'd been talking to Ralph before, was yelling in shock. He didn't make any move to help his friend otherwise though.

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><p>James felt a flash of rage as Fawley attempted to hit Meg back. He stormed forward and yanked Meg up and behind him protectively.<p>

"What the hell Wood?" Fawley jumped to his feet and put a hand to his bloody nose. Meg shoved in front of James.

"If you ever decide to flap your fat mouth at any of my friends again I'll curse you. " She'd pulled out her wand and it was pointed at Fawley steadily. He gulped and took a step back. " I don't care if you are insulting them, complimenting them, or simply chatting about the weather. One word to Layla again or any of my friends and you won't have a tongue to talk with you bastard."

James couldn't help the smile that pulled at his lips. Meg's eyes remained glued on Fawley. A very pissed Fawley.

"So what she sent you to do her dirty work for her?" He spat the words. A dumb thing to do. Sparks flew from the tip of Meg's wand, causing Fawley to flinch.

"No you arse wipe. I choose to come kill you because you're the biggest wanker ever." Meg lifted her wand and slashed it down. Boils sprung up all over Fawley's face. He screamed and yanked out his own wand.

James was quicker than him though. He'd sprung out in front of Meg and raised his wand. Fawley fell to the ground in a full body bind curse.

"Oh no you don't." James moved towards Fawley's still body and pointed the wand in his face. He opened his mouth to jinx Fawley and teach the berk a lesson, but was stopped by a loud, angry voice.

"James Potter you put that wand down this instant." Professor Longbottom was running across the quidditch pitch to where James, Meg and Fawley were. Behind James' head of house was the Hufflepuff quidditch captain who must've gone and got Professor Longbottom sometime during the fight. "You too Miss Wood."

James slowly backed away from Fawley and pocketed his wand, he glanced over at Meg to see her put hers away as well. She was steadily glaring at Fawley's body.

"Sorry Professor." James and Meg chimed in unison. Longbottom huffed and flicked his wand at Fawley.

"Up you get Mister Fawley and your wand away too please." Fawley sat up and stuffed his wand into his robes angrily. "Follow me, all three of you." Professor Longbottom marched the students of the pitch and through the flurries of snow to his office.

"Professor I-" Fawley began in an attempt to protest.

"Now." Longbottom pointed and the three students went.

Meg appeared fairly calm, James thought, considering she may lose her badge and she'd most definitely earned herself a detention. James attempted to remain calm as well. He still felt angry with Fawley and worried about Meg, but otherwise he wasn't overly concerned about punishment. Professor Longbottom was good friends with his parents and James knew that this meant he wasn't going to get in too much trouble. Although, both his parents would know about this little fight as soon as Longbottom was able to get his hands on an owl. This caused him to wince internally. His mother was not going to be happy about him getting into fights with other students.

Fawley was still fuming, he stamped his feet as he followed Professor Longbottom closely. Every so often he'd glance back at Meg to give her a glare. Meg either didn't notice or was ignoring him. James gave Fawley a good glare back, he wouldn't have Fawley trying to start anymore fights with Meg.

Upon entering Professor Longbottom's office had conjured two more chairs to rest beside the preexisting chair facing his desk and told the three to sit. He himself sat behind his desk. James took the middle seat and Meg took the one to his left. James scootched his chair closer to Meg and further from Fawley.

"What happened?" Professor Longbottom asked as he pinched the bridge of his nose. James immediately began to tell the story.

"I attacked Fawley, he pulled his wand and pointed it at Meg and then I put the full body bind on him, Professor." Professor Longbottom glanced between Meg and Fawley.

"Is this true Mr. Fawley, Miss. Wood?" James sent a glare towards Fawley, daring him to deny it. However, the voice that disagreed with him came from James left, not his right.

"Actually sir, I believe James is trying to take all the blame. As you saw my wand was out too." Meg began. James turned to her and interrupted.

"Like I said Fawley pulled his wand out and pointed it at Meg, she took out hers to protect herself, but I got there first." Longbottom held up his hand to stop James' explanations. He turned to face Meg and motioned for her to continue.

"Please go on Miss Wood." James scowled deeply.

"As I was saying, I attacked Fawley first and when he went to fight back, James protected me. However, I'd also like to make it known that I attacked Fawley because he provoked me." Professor Longbottom's eyebrows rose.

"Oh?" He prompted. "How so Miss Wood?" Meg's anger returned as she spoke the next words.

"He called Layla a mudblood." Longbottom's eyes widened slightly and he appeared a bit angry himself as well as a bit confused.

"Miss West was not outside." Meg nodded.

"He said it to her earlier today. I'd only just found out when I decided to punch Fawley." Longbottom nodded and James swore he saw his head of house's lips twitch as if he was fighting a smile.

"Is this true Mister Fawley." Fawley didn't speak. He crossed his arms and bobbed his head in confirmation.

"20 points will be taken from each of you."James groaned loudly. "And you will each serve detentions. Wood and Fawley, you will serve three weekend detentions and two for you Potter." James let out a loud breath of air, but didn't argue with Longbottom. "The details on your detentions will be sent to you tomorrow at breakfast."

The three student nodded. "Alright, you are free to return to appropriate activities." Longbottom gave James and Meg pointed looks. "Oh, and Mister Fawley you may want to see the nurse. You've got boils covering your face."

It took all of James control not to burst into laughter at Fawley's expression. He'd stood an fled from Longbottom's office toward the infirmary. His face was indeed covered in boils still and James felt satisfied with that.

"It's a good thing Neville found us and not Professor Sinnister or Headmaster Robard." James chuckled. "Neville acts all tough, but he can be a real softy." He turned to face Meg expecting her to laugh. She hadn't. "What's up?" She made no move to respond and kept staring at her feet. "Are you upset about the detention because they aren't tha-"

"No." She stopped abruptly and faced James. "Why do you always do that?" She demanded.

James was thoroughly confused. "What are you on about?"

"You always try and play hero." She spoke angrily. "First in quidditch with the bludger and now with Fawley. The second he pulls out his wand you jump in front of me. Then, in Longbottom's office you blame it all on yourself."

"I'm sorry?" James felt very confused as Meg continued to rant.

"You've done it to me other times too. You try and protect me as if I'm fragile or something."

James listened to her and then responded back calmly. "I don't think you're fragile or need protecting." He watched as her eyes scrutinized him. She deflated slightly.

"Well why then?" She sounded more curious than upset now. James blushed.

"Well, uh… " He shoved a hand through his hair. "I want to protect you. I know you don't need it, but you're my friend." He hesitated and stumbled over the word 'friend'. Meg was unaware of his difficulty as a grin was spreading across her face.

"That's kind of sweet." She leaned forward and kissed James cheek, causing him to blush again.

"Wait, so you aren't mad anymore?" James checked, she shook her head.

"Nah, sometimes you're too adorable to be mad at." James clutched at his chest in false offense at her words.

"Ugh, adorable?" He wrinkled his nose."I'm not adorable. Charming, handsome, perfect - sure. But not adorable." Meg giggled.

"Oh, you're incredibly adorable." She winked at him and started off back to the Slytherin common room. "I'll see you later." She waved.

"Yeah, later." James mumbled and waved back. He found that as he walked back to the Gryffindor common room there was a new spring in his step and a large smile had found it's way onto his face.

"Why are you so happy?" Fred inquired when James entered the Gryffindor common room while whistling.

"I got detention." James replied. Fred's eyebrows rose in question. "And then Meg said I was too adorable for her to stay mad at and kissed my cheek." James flopped down beside Fred on the couch.

"Why was she mad at you to begin with?" Fred's question was ignored as James sighed.

"Best day ever."

.

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><p><strong>Yesterday I went to the beach and it was so nice! Anybody have fun plans for the summer?<strong>

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	23. Detentions, Dates, and Bananas?

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><p><em>Chapter 23: Detentions, Dates, and Bananas? <em>

Detention sucked about as much as Meg had expected it to. She'd spent it helping Professor Longbottom clean and prepare plants for classes. It was her fifth detention. She'd gotten bitten by a particularly nasty Nipping Nemesia and her finger was throbbing.

She was ready to fall into her bed from exhaustion. The day had been very busy what with classes, quidditch practice and detention. Meg and James had been given different detentions, something she hadn't been expecting, but probably should have been. She wished James had been in detention with her to make the boring and slightly dangerous tasks a bit brighter and more fun.

Her detentions were on fridays and Saturdays and she was expected to serve six in total. James only had three detentions and had served them on Wednesdays and one Sunday, his were done, but Meg still had one more the next day. She wasn't looking forward to it.

She trudged towards the Slytherin dorm with heavy lidded eyes. Her feet were dragging and she'd already stifled multiple yawns and she still had a long ways to go.

"Meg!" She nearly groaned when her name was called, but stopped herself and turned to face the person who'd called after her.

"Meg, hey!" Marcus Corner was waving, with a friendly smile directed towards her. He stopped in front of her still grinning.

Meg took a moment to look at Marcus. He was in the year above her and on the Gryffindor quidditch team. James was always complaining about him being late and about how he wouldn't get a haircut. Meg had to admit Marcus' hair was a bit long for a guy's, shoulder length, but she couldn't say she minded. He managed to pull it off. In fact, Meg decided Marcus was fairly handsome. He had a nose ring and his shirt sleeves were pushed to his elbows in a careless way. His hair added to the effect rather than taking away from his over all good looks.

"Hi Marcus." Meg attempted to stifle a yawn after uttering his name. She covered her mouth in slight embarrassment. "Sorry."

Marcus waved off her apology. "Nah, I'm sorry, seems I'm keeping you."

"No, no." Meg smiled and waited for him to continue talking.

"Right. Well, I know we haven't talked much, but I was hoping we could change that. Would you want to go on a date and get to know each other a bit better?"

Meg thought about his offer. She had no real reason to say no. She and Zabini had broken up almost two months ago by now and she hadn't made plans for the next Hogsmeade meeting as it wasn't for another two weeks. She knew that Hannah would be with Alfie, Layla was going with some of her Hufflepuff friends, and James was supposed to meet Teddy for drinks. Since, she had no reason to say no, she figured why not.

"Um, sure. Sounds fun."

"Great." Marcus responded. "We can meet at the Three Broomsticks?"

Meg simply nodded to his question. She was starting to sway from her need for sleep. "Alright, cool. Well, night Meg."

"Night." She let out a huge sigh the second he'd turned the corner and she practically sprinted to the Slytherin dorms. She went quickly in hopes that she wouldn't be stopped again. After she'd avoided a couple potential roadblocks and made it safely to her room, she collapsed onto her bed and fell asleep.

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><p>The sun had finally come back. It was very welcome by the inhabitants of Hogwarts who had been becoming sick of the gloomy grey coldness of winter. The sun had managed to melt what little remains of snow or ice there had been. Only large puddles remained and everything was dripping.<p>

Even with the wet conditions much of Hogwarts could be found outside. They were excited by the sight of sunshine and had managed to convince themselves that it was warm enough outside for only a single jumper and perhaps a scarf. These same people were shivering and standing as directly in the sun as was possible.

James was with Meg, Fred and Alfie. They were sat out on a blanket that Meg had brought with her. James was very grateful for the blanket as he'd already heard four girls shriek about how wet the grass was.

"I still have no ideas" Fred was sighing from where he was strewn diagonally across the blanket. He'd managed to take up as much space as possible, causing the others to only have small sections to sit on.

Meg rolled her eyes and leaned her body back to lay down as well. She threw her legs on top of Fred's and rested them there.

"I've got nothing as well." She sighed.

Alfie merely shrugged. "Nothing here either."

They all turned to stare at James. He glanced up realizing that they expected him to have some kind of brilliant idea.

"I've no clue for another prank. How am I supposed to think when it's so bloody cold outside." He complained half heartedly.

The four sat in complete silence for awhile.

"I've got it!" Fred sat up abruptly, jostling Meg. The other's watched him excitedly. "Bananas!" They stared at Fred in pure confusion. He glance between each face before letting out a huff of air. "Yeah, maybe not." He laid himself back to his previous position.

"Wait, maybe…" Meg sat up quickly this time. James and Alfie glanced at her as if she was crazy.

They were used to random, unhelpful comments coming from Fred, but they expected Meg to have better common sense than him.

"Really?" Fred sat up again in his excitement and watched Meg.

"Well, sort of. I'm thinking bananas and monkeys." She put a large emphasis on the word 'and'.

Alfie was shaking his head. "You guys are absolutely insane."

"No!" James eyes went wide as he looked between Meg and Fred. "They are geniuses."

Alfie groaned and muttered. "Oh not you too."

James nodded at the other two's excited faces. He leaned in and began explaining what he thought was surely a master plan, by the grins enveloping both Fred's and Meg's faces he could tell they agreed with him.

The three leaned in closer in their elation.

Alfie simply shook his head and muttered to himself. "Complete loonies the lot of them."

.

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><p><strong>I'm at a writers workshop this week and I just got here today. Hopefully this means that my writing is going to improve and maybe I'll get some new ideas this week!<strong>

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	24. Love Potion Threats and Confusion

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**random person 42: Kissing? What's that? ;P Thank you for such a sweet review!**

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><p><em>Chapter 24: Love Potion Threats and Confusion<em>

James woke up to a tapping on his window. His eyes remained squeezed shut stubbornly. The tapping continued. It was persistent and became louder by the second. James flipped himself over, still keeping his eyes firmly shut, and clamped his hands over his ears. This wasn't as helpful as James had hoped, he could still hear the tapping loud and clear.

Finally, James convinced himself to get out of bed. He dragged himself over towards the sound. He blinked his eyes partially open and found an owl tapping it's beak against the window. He recognized the owl instantly as Teddy's.

He wondered why the owl was at his window so early on a friday morning. Why hadn't the dumb owl just dropped off his letter at breakfast like all the other owls? He thrust the window open and allowed the offending owl into his dorm. He glanced at his still sleeping roommates and the barely lightening sky outside. He scowled at the owl.

"You've always been a rather impatient thing." He muttered in annoyance. Teddy's owl had landed on James bed post and sat there blinking at him. If owl's could scowl James was sure it would be. It screeched at him. "Alright, alright. Be quiet would you? You'll wake everyone in the castle." James muttered at the owl and untied the letter. The thing let out one last screech and flew out the window. James shook his head and closed the window after it.

He opened the letter from Teddy and read.

_Jamie,_

_Hope we are still on for Hogsmeade next weekend. I was thinking we could meet at the 3 Broomsticks around 11:30? I promised Vic I'd see her at 2 so I'll have to leave before then._

_See you,_

_Teddy_

James rolled his eyes at Teddy's words. Of course he was going to run off and do whatever Victoire wanted. He'd been like that for awhile. Ever since Victoire and Teddy started dating a couple years ago they'd been practically inseparable.

James knew it'd be impossible for him to get back to sleep at this point and decided to go to the quidditch pitch. The sun had just began to rise and he liked the idea of flying with the pink and orange hues of the sky.

He grabbed his broom and ran for the pitch. He'd write Teddy and confirm they were still on after breakfast, but for now all he cared to do was fly.

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><p>Meg was eaves dropping. She wasn't proud to admit it, but honestly she had no other choice. After all Marie Selwyn had said the words "James Potter" and "sexy" in the same sentence. As one of James' best mates Meg owed it to him to listen and relate the conversation to him later. Really, she was honestly only interested in being a good friend.<p>

Her ears were strained so that she'd be able to hear the rest of Selwyn's conversation with her friends.

"Maybe if I were to like shorten my skirt and drop something in front of him…" Selwyn mused.

"Please, James Potter wouldn't notice you if you stood in front of him naked and tap danced!" One of her friends sighed in disgust. "He's way too obsessed with himself-"

"Or with following Margaret Wood like some sort of lost puppy." Another of her friends chimed in. The group of 5th year girls all muttered upset agreements at that. A couple of them snuck glances Meg's way. She quickly averted her gaze to her food and pretended to laugh at something Layla had said. She scooped some of her food into her mouth and prayed to Merlin that the girls hadn't seen her gaze on them. It seemed they hadn't as they continued their conversation, cluelessly.

"Maybe I could slip him some love potion." Marie spoke thoughtfully.

Meg hoped her friends would tell her she was crazy. However, she was unable to find out the other responses. A group of boys sitting between the sixth year and fifth year girls had began a small, but incredibly noisy food fight just at the wrong time. Their racket interrupted Meg's eavesdropping completely. Meg cursed the 2nd year boys in her head for being so immature.

Meg scowled at the boys and stood from the table. Hannah and Layla glanced up at her in question. She shrugged and waved at them as she left the room. They glanced at her, but merely shrugged and went back to their food.

The girls knew that Meg wasn't a person who needed much prompting to talk usually, so if she didn't talk, then clearly she didn't want to and it wasn't their business to ask. Meg was grateful for friends who knew her so well.

She had to find James. He had left breakfast before his friends that morning and she had no idea where he'd gone. She froze for a minute and began wishing she had the Marauders Map. Of course to get the map she needed James...

Lucky for her, Alfie came around the corner at that moment. Sometimes she loved how things worked out.

"Alfie!"

"Hey Meg." He walked over with a grin on his face. "What's up?"

"Do you know where James is?" Her question was more forceful than she'd intended it to be.

"Uh yeah, I think he went to the owlery, he was in such a hurry he knocked his pumpkin juice all over me. I had to go ch-"

"Thanks!' Meg cut off Alfie with a slightly apologetic smile. "See you later." She remembered to call over her shoulder as she ran towards the owlery.

She was incredibly out of breath by the time she'd made it to the owlery. She ran smack into James as he was preparing to leave.

"Meg?" He asked her in surprised confusion.

"I- I- One sec." Meg panted out. She held up a finger asking for patience. James stood and waited with interest. After she'd managed to catch her breath she linked her arm through James' and began to walk slowly down the stairs.

"Why'd you come all the way up here just to turn around?"

"I was coming to find you." Meg told him.

"Oh?" He waited for her to continue, as he knew she would.

"I overheard something…" Meg started, "Marie Selwyn, she's a 5th year in Slytherin, intends to feed you love potion."

James eyes widened incredulously. Then he chuckled.

"Seriously?"

Meg nodded. "Yeah, I heard her say so."

"You sure she wasn't joking?" Meg shrugged at James inquiry. "All the same I'll make sure to avoid anything given to me by a Slytherin." He chuckled.

"Okay…" Meg let out a breath of relief.

"Are you alright?" James asked in concern.

"Fine, just didn't want you to drink love potion." They'd reached the bottom of the stairs. "I'll see you after lunch?" She waved good bye at James and ran off.

She wasn't sure why she'd felt so suddenly determined to find James. She always saw him at lunch and surely she could've told him about Selwyn then, surely she could've waited rather than run across the castle to find him. Meg frowned in confusion at herself. She had some things to figure out.

_._

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><p><strong>Holy crap! There are 84 people who follow this story! Thank you guys so much! Sorry I take awhile to update sometimes, but since you've been so patient I have two updates for you tonight. They are short, but better then nothing right?<strong>

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	25. B-A-N-A-N-A-S It's bananas!

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><p><em>Chapter 25: B-A-N-A-N-A-S. It's bananas!<em>

Richie Caldwell wondered why two of his dorm mates were still missing. It was past one in the morning and neither James Potter or Alfie Jordan were anywhere to be found. Richie only wondered for a moment though. After all James Potter was known for his late night escapades and Alfie was his best mate. They stuck together and despite Alfie usually following rules it made sense in a way.

Richie fell asleep, clearing thoughts of his roommates from his mind. He slept peacefully.

That is until the screeching noise.

Richie awoke suddenly. He sprang up in surprise and jumped out of his bed.

"What the hell?" His feet landed on something slimy and not floor-like. He looked down to find the floor covered in bananas.

There were banana peels and crushed bananas and half eaten bananas making the floor completely invisible.

The screeching noise from earlier happened again. He looked up and swinging from his bed posts was a monkey. A brown fuzzy, angry looking monkey. It screeched at him again and bared its teeth.

Richie let out a scared yelp and sprinted from his room. The other two inhabitants of his room followed behind him as quickly as possible. The monkey was throwing something after them and Richie hoped that it was only crushed banana.

He had a feeling it wasn't.

The boys ran down in the common room and found most of Gryffindor house down there as well. People were rushing down the stairs in their pyjamas with banana covered feet.

Richie knew exactly who to blame for this.

Two people actually. Two people who had been strangely absent from their dorm last night. Two people who were sitting on the Gryffindor couch with a couple other people laughing.

Richie stomped forward ready to do something to James Potter and Alfie Jordan, but his foot slid from under him and he landed on his rear, hard.

By the time he'd managed to stand up and shove through more of the crowd that had gathered to the couches, Potter and Jordan were gone.

They'd have to come back to the dorm eventually.

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><p>The Gryffindor students were walking around in their pyjamas that day. A very few of them had managed to grab shoes, but none of the other's had been able to enter their dorms without having angry monkeys screeching and throwing a questionable substinance at them. All Gryffindors that is, except for James, Alfie and Fred.<p>

The other three houses were very confused during breakfast. By lunch the story had spread throughout the school of the prank on Gryffindor. Everyone found it amusing and rightfully deserved as they'd all been victims of pranks through the years.

The teachers were unaware as to what had precisely happened, as they only saw the students during meals because it was a Sunday.

"James!" Dominique had come running over to where James, Alfie, Meg, and Hannah sat. She tripped on a root and landed next to the four on the floor beside the tree. She brushed her legs off, remaining sat, with bright red cheeks. She flipped her hair over shoulder in an attempt to act as if she'd meant to land near the group. She ended up having to inch herself forward slightly to be at a less of a distance from them.

"What's up Dom?" James asked in slight amusement. Meg elbowed him in an attempt to stop his snickers.

"I juzt wanted to zay thank you for the amusement today. I'm glad zat you pranked Gryffindor for once." Dominique stood and dusted off her pants. "And Margaret, zank you for making James do eet. You aren't so bad for a Slytherin." She left the group with a good bye and a smile over her shoulder.

"I've never seen Dom look so ecstatic." James told his friends with raised eyebrows. Meg laughed.

"I told you it was only fair to prank Gryffindor too."

"Yeah, yeah."

"I'm just glad to be able to sleep in my own bed again tonight." Alfie sighed out. "It'll all be gone by nine tonight right."

"Yep." Meg reassured Alfie with a smile.

"Are you sure you want to sleep in your own bed tonight?" Hannah leaned towards Alfie with a coy grin. "Because my roommates are going to in Hufflepuff tonight."

Meg rolled her eyes at Hannah. She had originally agreed to go with the rest of their dorm to the Hufflepuff girls' dorm as they'd invited them over for a sleepover party. It was supposed to be incredibly fun.

Alfie's eyes had gone wide. Hannah leaned in and whispered something in his ear.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning James." Alfie sprang to his feet and ran to the castle.

"What did you say?" Meg asked Hannah in amusement.

"Just said he should go get his stuff for a sleepover tonight." Hannah stood and winked. "Just make sure you don't leave anything in the room, because once you guys leave…"

_Meg rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, I'm going to stay far away." _

_._

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><p><strong>I told you two updates today! Please review and I promise that I'll update ASAP. <strong>

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	26. Dates Gone Bad, Fights Gone Worse

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><p><em>Chapter 26: Dates Gone Bad, Fights Gone Worse<em>

James walked to Hogsmeade alone as all of his friends had plans. He didn't much care though as he was incredibly excited to see Teddy. He had to physically stop himself from sprinting to the Three Broomsticks.

When he got there he realized he was slightly early as it was only eleven fifteen. He figured he could just grab a table and wait until Teddy got there. He wasn't looking forward to sitting alone so he checked the bar for someone he could talk to for a bit.

He found Meg.

James grinned. He hadn't know Meg was even going to Hogsmeade. She'd told him a couple weeks ago that Hannah and Layla already had plans. He'd felt bad about being unable to go with her, but she'd been very understanding.

"Hey!" He walked over to her table and stood in front of it. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh hullo!" She smiled at James. "I'm waiting for Marcus."

"Marcus Corner?" James' smile fell slightly.

Marcus Corner was another chaser on James' team and James wasn't crazy about him. Marcus was constantly late to practices and games. He always acted superior to James purely because he was year older. Sometimes he would attempt to help James captain the team.

"Yeah." Meg watched James face carefully.

"I didn't know you guys were friends." James pursed his lips.

"Well we aren't exactly. I mean we've talked a couple times and he asked me out and I had no reason to say no. Right?"

"Yeah, right." James grumbled his agreement. He was sure he could give Meg plenty of reasons not to accept a date with Marcus, but before he could say any of them Marcus himself appeared.

"Hey Meg! Sorry I'm late! I saw you were talking to Potter so I went and bought us drinks." Marcus scooted in beside Meg and placed a butterbeer beside her.

"Thank you! That was sweet of you."

"No problem." Marcus grinned.

"I guess I better be going." James said through gritted teeth.

"I'll see you later James! Tell Teddy hullo for me." Meg waved as James left to find his own table.

Teddy joined James a couple minutes later with a large smile. James should have noticed Teddy sooner what with his bright blue hair, but his mind had been focused on disliking Marcus.

Teddy sat and they began talking immediately. James slowly began to forget his anger and slip into their usual banter. James loved talking with Teddy, he always had the best stories from working with Uncle Charlie in Romania.

James told Teddy about the latest monkey and banana prank. Teddy laughed at the appropriate moments and then began to tell his own stories. James was nearly in stitches after Teddy's very enthusiastic telling of a baby chimera attempting to cuddle with a welsh green.

Their stories continued with avidity until at one thirty when Teddy stood up reluctantly.

"I better head out. Vic was going dress shopping with Dom today, so I'm supposed to go pick her up."

James groaned half-heartedly.

"Alright then. Bye Teddy." James and Teddy clapped each other on the back and Teddy left. James was ready to leave himself when his eyes flickered over to where Marcus and Meg still sat. They had desserts in front of them and more drinks and Meg was laughing loudly at something Marcus had said.

James' anger returned in a mere second. He almost stormed over to their table, but couldn't think of anything to say. He instead averted his eyes and attempted to distract himself by looking at all the people in the bar.

His eyes landed on a group of giggly fifth year girls. He recognised one as Marie Selwyn, Meg had pointed her out the other day to warn him of her huge crush on her. He suddenly had what was probably a horrible idea.

He charged over to the fifth year girls.

"Selwyn." The girls all glanced up at him, their eyes went wide and they began giggling at him.

"James Potter! Hi!" The girl looked star-struck.

"Join me for a drink?" It was almost a question. James knew that had Meg heard him she'd have chided him for such rude behavior, but Marie didn't seem to care. She stood quickly and shoved her friends out of the way and grinned way to wide.

"I'd love too!" She said it much too eagerly.

James dragged her first to the bar and ordered four drinks.

"Four?" She wondered aloud.

"Yeah we're gonna sit with some friends of mine. Is that okay?" He remembered to add on the last part to be a bit politer.

"Of course." She fluttered her eyelashes at him. He had to stop himself from rolling his eyes in annoyance with her. He took their drinks and went for Meg's table.

He scooched in cross from Meg and placed the two drinks down for them. Marie scooted in beside him and grabbed a drink as well.

"Do you mind if my date and I join you?" James asked.

Meg smiled at James. "Of course not. That's fine." Her smile faltered slightly as her eyes landed on Marie.

"I didn't know you had a date today. I thought you were with Teddy today?" Meg asked slowly.

"I was, but he left and Marie wasn't doing anything so…" He shrugged uncaringly, causing Meg to frown.

"I wasn't doing nothing." Marie chimed in quickly. "I was with a large group of my friends, but I wouldn't turn James down." She fluttered her eyelashes again. James did roll his eyes at her this time.

"Marcus were you planning on actually showing up to quidditch practice tomorrow. I'd like to know before I plan what we'll be going over."

Meg's eyes widened at James' rudeness. Marcus laughed it off though.

"Sure cap. I'll be there."

"Will you be on time because it seems like that's a huge problem for you."

"James!" Meg exclaimed in shock.

"It's cool. He's right, I'm late a lot." Marcus grinned at James. "But I'm a good player so he keeps me."

"I don't know if you're good enough to excuse the fact you show up late to every practice." James deadpanned.

"James Potter!" Meg exclaimed. "Quit it."

"Can we talk about something other than quidditch?" Marie whined.

James groaned. "You don't like quidditch? You do realize that's basically all I care about, right?" He glanced at the girl in disgust.

"That's not all you care about." She began. "I mean you have-"

"Yes it is." James cut her off. "Right now I even care for quidditch more than you." At these words Meg stood quickly, eyes blazing.

"Marcus I think we should leave." She said the words coldly. Marcus stood and shrugged.

"Alright."

James stood too, climbing over Marie to get out of the booth.

"Why are you going?" James asked with narrowed eyes.

"I think you know exactly why." Meg told him, crossing her arms.

"No I honestly don't." James crossed his arms too.

"You are being awfully rude to both my date and yours."

"So what?" James exclaimed. "Neither of us should be on a date with either of them anyways." The words spilled from his mouth before he could stop them. Meg's eyebrows rose up further than James thought was possible.

"If that's how you feel, then you shouldn't have invited Marie over here. Marcus and I were having a lovely time until you interrupted."

James snorted. "I'm sure you were."

"We were!" Meg's voice had risen and James could tell he was really getting to her. "Unlike you I only go on dates I want to go on."

James laughed at that. A hard angry laugh. "At least I don't date assholes who only care about my looks rather than my personality!"

Meg's face flashed hurt and James instantly regretted what he'd said, but he was too fired up to take it back now.

"You know what, next time ask me first if you like me." Tears were welling up in her eyes at this point. She pivoted and started towards the door.

"Meg." James started after, wanting to apologize. She stopped and turned.

"I can't believe you'd stoop so low." Her voice was so quiet that he could barely hear it, but once the words left her mouth they echoed loudly in his ears as if she'd screamed them. "Sorry Marcus." Her words were choked and she brushed fresh tears from her face. Then she ran out the door.

"What the hell Potter?" Marcus glanced at James in disgust.

James ran out the door after Meg. He said nothing to either Marie or Marcus.

"James! James!" Marie yelled after him, but she was ignored.

Marie wiped a tear from her face. She'd had the biggest crush on James forever and her chance with him was blown. In fact she doubted she'd ever had a chance with him in the first place.

She couldn't believe that he'd been so rude to her.

"Can I get you something to drink?" Marcus asked her kindly. She glanced at him. He had a strong smile and was very good looking.

"Uh sure." She said with a shy smile.

"Great!" He leaned forward a wiped away the tear on her cheek.

_._

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><p><strong>Please review because if you don't I may have to withhold the next chapter from you... Nah I'm not that mean. Or am I? <strong>

**I'm hoping you all are invested in the next chapter considering how this one ended.**

**Hope everyone is having a lovely summer! **

**- Jenn-**


	27. Talk To Eachother

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**Disclaimer - I don't own HP.**

* * *

><p><em>Chapter 27:<em> _Talk To Eachother  
><em>

"You have to talk to him."

"No I don't." Meg and Hannah had been having the same argument for the past 10 minutes.

"Meg just give him a chance to explain." Layla attempted to reason.

"No." Meg's face was hard. She leaned back in her bed and crossed her arms stubbornly.

"He's miserable." Layla tried again.

"Good."

"You're miserable!" Hannah spluttered. She scowled at her friend in frustration.

She was right of course. Meg and James hadn't spoken since their fight a week a go. Both of them had been draging themselves to their classes and meals and neither left their dorms for any other reasons. James had attempted to apologise a couple times on Sunday and Monday, but Meg had continuously refused to see him. In potions she'd sat on the exact opposite side of the room from. He gave up hope of talking to her by Tuesday morning.

Meg had remained firm in her decision to avoid James. No matter how many times she'd glance over to where he sat during meals or classes. It was impossible not to notice how downtrodden both had been lately.

Meg still hadn't responded to Hannah, a sure sign she didn't know what to say. Her friends took this to mean that they were closer to breaking her resolve then they had been the whole week.

"You don't have to forgive him quite yet, just let him apologize." Layla pleaded. Meg was silent for a couple more minutes, until she finally let out a sigh.

"Maybe." She conceded.

"I think you'll feel better if you do." Layla reassured her.

"We'll all feel better if you do." Hannah mumbled grumpily.

"Fine." She responded. Her friends grinned at each other.

"Thank Merlin!" Hannah shouted and began jumping on her bed.

* * *

><p>"You have to talk to her."<p>

"She doesn't want to talk." James groaned out for the fifth time that day.

"Make her listen then." Fred said in exasperation.

"It's not that easy!" James exclaimed in frustration.

"I can't stand to see you both so miserable!" Fred shouted back. Alfie nodded his agreement.

James remained silent at that. He missed Meg unbearably and hated himself for making her cry. He wished he could take back everything he had said. He wished he could just talk to her for ten minutes and apologize. He wished he could talk to her period.

"Just try one more time at least." Fred begged.

"Once more can't hurt." Alfie reasoned.

James disagreed with Alfie. It hurt him every time Meg refused to talk to him. It hurt every time she purposefully avoided him or sat as far from him as possible. However, Alfie was right about one thing; he had to try again. Meg would never forgive him if he didn't apologize.

"Okay, okay." He raised his hands in surrender.

"Yes!" Fred jumped up in joy and did a victory dance. James still felt very far from victory himself.

* * *

><p>James was lying on his bed instead of eating dinner with everyone else. He was face first in his pillow, wallowing. He may have been a Gryffindor, but his bravery had momentarily escaped him. He knew he should've gone to dinner and tracked down Meg and asked her to talk to him in private, but he was afraid that she'd outright refuse him. She'd already ignored and avoided him, but having her outright refuse to talk to him would be worse.<p>

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The soft knock interrupted James' deprecating thoughts.

He stood slowly and went to open the door.

"Meg?" He couldn't believe his eyes. eg surely couldn't be standing at his door right now, she hated him.

"Yeah it's me." Her voice was very quiet. He felt his heart leap against his chest and he sighed in relief. He prayed that this wasn't a dream.

"Oh. We- uh we should talk." James managed to say. She nodded in agreement. James opened the door more and walked back into his room. Meg followed, closing the door behind her. She leaned back against the door and waited.

"Right," He began, ruffling his hair uncomfortably. "I'm sorry for saying those things. I got jealous and let my anger speak. I'm especially sorry that I made you cry."

"Thank you.' Meg murmured. She glanced up at him, making eye contact for the first time. "I haven't completely forgiven you though." She warned him.

James nodded. "I'll make it up to you." He promised.

"I don't want you to make it up to me."

James frowned in confusion. Whenever he made his mother or sister upset with him he'd buy them a gift or help with chores. If he made a cousin upset with him he'd avoid them until they got over it. He had a feeling if he tried any of these things with Meg it would just make things worse. James family had to forgive him, Meg didn't.

"Alright."

"I know you get jealous about your friends having other friends or dating, but I promise no one is gonna replace you. Okay?" She stepped forward closer to James and grabbed one of his hands to give it a squeeze. She gave him a small smile.

"Okay." James squeezed her hand back. "Thank you for coming to see me. I missed you."

"I missed you too." She smiled a little bigger.

"Friends still?" He inquired nervously.

"Definitely." She confirmed.

Meg leaned up and kissed James's cheek. He realized just how much he'd missed her doing that. He wanted her to never stop kissing his cheek as a form of goodbye. It was something only she did and he loved it.

"See you in potions tomorrow." She began to walk over to the door to leave. James groaned.

"Don't remind me."

She giggled and left with one last wave.

_._

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><p><strong>Thanks for 90 followers on this story, however n<strong>**o one has been reviewing lately :( I hope you guys will please review, I'd really appreciate it!**

**Hope everyone is having a lovely summer! **

**- Jenn-**


	28. Hiking Friends

**Thank you for favoriting/alerting!  
><strong>**  
><strong>**I'm so sorry for taking so long! Seriously, so sorry.  
><strong>**This is my senior year in high school so I've been incredibly busy. I've been writing a surplus of essays, including my college essay, which is taking a lot out of me. College searching, applying, and so on is super stressful. Plus my birthday is the 26th and Halloween is soon so I've been doing stuff for those. My friends and I are trying to make our costumes and oh my, it's a task. **

**Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter. **

**Disclaimer - I don't own HP.**

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><p><em>Chapter 28: Hiking friends<em>_****  
><strong>**_

Meg and James had quickly fallen back into their usual routine, much to their friends' relief. They were back to talking, studying, chatting, and plotting together. Plus the weather was growing warmer and the trees were growing greener. Everyone was excited and filled with a new energy.

The grass was the greenest possible and flowers were popping up from the ground everywhere. It had rained the night before, leaving everything looking brighter and fresh.

Besides the lovely day, the students were excited for Easter break.

The train ride was filled with overzealous students, chattering and running everywhere. Meg's compartment was stuffed with as many people as was possible to fit in it. Hannah was sat on top of Alfie, Layla sat beside them squished by Alfie and Scorpius. Across the way Meg sat on James' lap, Lily beside them and beside her was Alice Longbottom and Hugo next to her. In the middle was a large table covered in sweets. Somehow they'd all managed to change into their most comfortable clothes and had eaten at least three quarters of the sweets that they'd originally bought.

The compartment was so loud that it was difficult to hear what the person beside them was saying, even if they were yelling straight in the other person's ear.

The train came to a stop and the group streamed from the compartment. Elbows knocked into stomach and heads as everyone struggled to reach their bags and items and escape from the train.

They made it on to the platform with an assortment of new bruises, but still cheery faces. Meg pushed through the crowds with one of her arms hooked through Hannah's and her other through James' in order to keep them together as she attempted to get to her father.

Oliver Wood stood towards the back of the platform, waiting for his daughter with a large grin on his face. He waved at her as she yanked her friends in front of him and sent him a grin.

"Dad!" She hugged her father tightly.

"You've said goodbye to all of your friends?" He asked patiently.

"Yes." The three answered readily.

"Excellent." He grinned and turned to the other two. "Lovely to see you Hannah."

"You too, Oliver." She hugged Oliver. He turned to face James next.

"James Potter is it?" James nodded nervously. He stuck his hand out and shook Oliver's firm grip.

"Yes sir." Oliver glanced at Meg who was busy chatting with Hannah, completely distracted.

"You can call me Oliver. I knew your dad at school, he was an excellent seeker."

"Er… Thank you." James responded a bit sheepishly. He knew his father was good at Quidditch, but it was his mother who he was used to hearing about.

"You ready to go dad?" Meg was grinning, her trunk in hand, which James had been carrying before.

"I was waiting for you." Oliver chuckled. Meg stuck her tongue out and ushered everyone to leave. Oliver apparated the three home.

Meg was glad to be home. She looked up at her house. The yard was thriving, proof that her mother was still attempting to garden (attempting, meaning buiging flowers she liked and then hiring someone to do the work, as she was not born with a green thumb) and the white gate around her house added to it's charm. The house itself was good sized and painted a cheery yellow. It had a wrap around porch and white framed windows.

Meg lead everyone up the path to her house, on to her porch and through the front door.

Hannah who was already very familiar with Meg's house ran up the stairs, yelling something about claiming the larger guest room.

Meg giggled after her friend and then offered James a tour. They left their luggage in the hallway where they'd entered. In front of them was a staircase and on either side was two doors.

"The kitchen is here." Meg opened the first door on the right and walked in the kitchen had an island setup, which separated the dining room from it. Across the hall was the living room and a bathroom. On the next floor there were four bedrooms. Meg's parent's room was across from hers and the two guest rooms were across from each other beside the other rooms. Hannah had indeed claimed the room that was larger and had it's own full bathroom. The other guestroom shared bathroom with Meg's room. Meg helped James settle his stuff into the room beside hers.

She continued on her tour to the third floor to show James the last room. The third floor was one large recreational room. It had wood paneled ceilings, smooth floors and fancy furniture. It held a numerous amount of entertainment items; both muggle and wizarding.

"You're house is nice." James commented, meaning the words completely. Her house was uncluttered, clean, and spacious. He often felt his home was always messy. Someone was always leaving things out on the floor, the couch or a table. Lily had a habit of tossing different jumpers and cardigans on furniture and forgetting she'd left it there, while Albus was always leaving books and magazines , Meg's house appeared spotless.

"Yours is much more lived in." Meg glanced around at the pristine rooms. James chuckled at her word choice.

"You mean messy."

"No!" Meg shook her head and smiled. "It looks like people actually live there, my house looks like one realtors have done up to show off."

James couldn't disagree with her, but he didn't think it was a bad thing. "It's clean, you can probably find everything when you need to and you probably don't end up tripping over random shoes."

Meg consented to that with a chuckle. "C'mon let's find Hannah and get dinner. I'm sure dad's put something on for us."

At dinner the four sat happily eating sandwiches.

"No one tell Hestia that we had BLT's for dinner. She'd hex me." Meg and Hannah laughed loudly, while James glanced around in confusion.

"Hestia?" He muttered to Meg. He knew Hestia was Meg's mother's name, but he wasn't sure what Oliver meant saying she'd kill him.

"My mum's away on business for the week. She's in a healthy food kick right now and would go on about the bacon." James nodded in understanding now.

After dinner Meg, Hannah, and James talked for had left them be, claiming they didn't need an old dad around anyway. The three teenagers were excited about their holiday and discussing what they were planning on doing for the rest of it.

Hannah was focused on what days Alfie was free. There weren't many as his family was planning on going to France to visit his grandparents. He'd only be home the first and last days.

"I'm going to meet Alfie's parents tomorrow. I'm terrified, but I figure if James can meet Oliver and not piss his pants, surely I can introduce myself to Alfie's family." Hannah bounced as she spoke.

"Oi!" James frowned at Hannah. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." Hannah gave James a confused look. "Honest."

"Our parent meeting is completely different." James pointed out. Hannah nodded much to James relief, until she spoke.

"True, girls' parents are much more protective than boys. Weird isn't it? I think it's because girls can end up pregnant, what do you think, Meg?" Meg and Hannah launched into a debate about why girls' parents were often very protective of them. James tuned them out as his mind whirled with separate thoughts.

Surely it couldn't have been that big of a deal meeting Meg's dad. They weren't dating. They were just friends. Hannah had been just attempting to make herself feel better, right? Should James be worried about meeting Oliver? He'd seemed to like him… but what if he hadn't? What if he'd hated James and never let Meg hang out with him ever again?

James wanted to keep such thoughts out of his mind, but was finding it rather difficult. They only halted when Meg's voice cut through them.

"I'm headed to bed." She stretched beside James and yawned. "Good night." She started up the stairs.

"I'm off as well." Hannah stood and began towards the stairs. "You coming? It's pretty late."

"Uh, yeah." James stood and dragged a hand through his hair. "Yeah, sleep." He followed Hannah up the stairs and crossed to his assigned room. He stopped to glance at Meg's door for a moment. "Sleep." He muttered and entered the room, the door shut with a small click.

* * *

><p>"We are going hiking today!" Meg grinned at James as she jumped up and down on his bed. Her resemblance to a child on Christmas morning was remarkable. James groaned and shifted around. He'd awoken to her bouncing on top of him and shouting about hiking. She'd continued said behavior for a solid 5 minutes until James finally responded.<p>

"Ten more minutes." He mumbled. Meg pouted.

"No. I wanna go noooow." She whined. He sighed and sat up, grabbing her legs and yanking her down. She let out a yelp and landed on her butt with a bounce.

"Alright. Let me get dressed and eat?" He asked, she sighed.

"I guess."

James shoved her out of his room and shut the door behind her. He threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and pulled on a pair of trainers.

He dragged himself down to Meg's kitchen where wonderful smells were wafting throughout the entire house.

"What've you made?" James walked into the kitchen with a grin.

"Dad made pancakes and I just finished some bacon." Meg handed James a plate and directed him towards the counter, where he sat himself. Meg sat beside him as Oliver stuffed a piece of bacon into his mouth.

"I'll see you tonight sweetie." He leaned over and kissed Meg's forehead. "Bye you two." Oliver exited the kitchen quickly.

"Where's he off to?" James motioned towards the doorway.

"Work. And Hannah's still sleeping, she probably won't wake up until 12, meaning she'll have to rush to get ready for Alfie's and she'll be in a sour mood. So we will be leaving way before then."

James had forgotten about Hannah leaving him and Meg alone for the day. He nodded slowly as he chewed some pancake.

"We're going hiking?"

"Yeah! I thought it'd be fun." She explained. "It's an unusually nice day today. Sunny and a bit warmer than it's been. Perfect hiking weather."

"Alright." James watched Meg eat her breakfast in record time and then run around packing stuff for hiking. She stuffed water bottles, food, band aids, and anything you could possibly need when hiking in to two smallish backpacks. James was quite surprised that it all fit in the small packs.

"Undetectable extendable charm and I've made them lighter as well." Meg explained as she folded up a blanket and shoved it into one of the backpacks. James felt a small smile pulling at his lips.

"Smart." He commented.

"Your Aunt, Hermione, taught me how." She confessed and handed him one of the backpacks. "Ready?"

"I suppose." He let out in a sigh. Meg rolled her eyes at his dramatics.

"Come on then." She dragged James out the door and across her lawn.

"Where exactly are we going?" James inquired as Meg continued to drag him along.

"The forest here," She gestured to the thick bunch of trees they were headed towards. "it's got a couple of walking trails. It get's a little steep in some areas, but it's got the prettiest sights."

James watched Meg's face light up as she talked about the scenery. She described a spot where you could look out and see the sunshine glint off of a lake that was so clear you could practically see straight to the bottom. She described how she'd found it one fall when she was little and had been exploring with her dad.

James grinned at the way her eyes widened and lit up. He loved how her nose wrinkled just the smallest bit as she waved her hands around in explanation.

"What?" She paused in her movements and speech for a moment.

"Hm?"

"You were staring at me. You kinda had a funny look on your face. Were you listening to me?" Meg put her hands on her hips and gave him a falsely stern look.

"Yeah. Of course I was." James reassured her.

"Sure." She rolled her eyes, but giggled a bit. "What were you thinking about so intensely?"

"I- nothing. I was just listening to what you were saying." James insisted.

"Fine, don't tell me." She shook her head at him and sped up her pace. "Come on, I want to get to the harder part of the trail already."

James chuckled at her eagerness, but followed duitiously.

They marched along on a small, dusty and worn path, winding through trees and over numerous plants. They stopped only when they saw an interesting animal, bug, or flower and sometimes to eat a snack or drink some water.

When they'd finally reached the second steep area, Meg let out a cheer. "This is the hard part!" She sent James a grin as she began to climb up the rocky incline. The path was less of a path and more a rock climbing challenge now. They had to be careful to place their feet and hands on steady rocks and indents. Meg moved up with the grace of someone who'd been scaling mountains their whole life.

James wasn't bad, but he almost slipped a few times. Meg had been right, this was the hard part. He was sweaty and his arms were beginning to get sore. After a good twenty minutes they were finally able to pull themselves up on to level ground.

"Here. Look!" Meg pointed out to a lake.

The sun was glistening off the lake and the beauty of spring was reflected on its surface. A couple birds could be seen flying out over the many blossoming trees and skimming the edge of the clear water. James was sure that he could see fish in the lake, even though he knew it had to be impossible to see any at this distance.

"It's gorgeous." James faced Meg appreciatively. "Really really gorgeous."

"I know!" Meg sighed contentedly. "Are you hungry?"

"Starving."

Meg unpacked a picnic and the blanket James had seen earlier. She spread the blanket and they sat to eat.

James couldn't believe how lucky he was to have a friend like Meg. Here she sat, hair pulled into a quick ponytail, sweat on her forehead, and face flushed pink, while she smiled brighter than ever.

James knew very few people who enjoyed being outside and active, no matter the weather, as much as he did. Even Alfie and Fred weren't likely to enjoy waking up early and hiking all day. Lily and Albus would've complained the second they saw an insect and James knew most of his female cousins would've complained about feeling sweaty and tired. But, here was Meg who liked all of those things and lived for those things.

James suddenly realized something very important.

He didn't want to be _just_ friends with Meg.

_._

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><p><strong><span>lalalalala<span>: I'm guessing this isn't your actual user name... lol. Thank you so much for such a kind review! It seriously made my day and I'm glad you enjoy this fic. Don't worry I have so much planned for this fic that I'm more likely to overwrite then I am to stop writing. **

**Imightjustwishiwasaweasley: thank you! I know, sorry it was short, but some chapters are really long and others are not. Sometimes I like how they end and don't want to put the next section because I feel that it should go separate. You feel?**

**Guest: Glad you liked the chapter and thanks for the review!**

**SamanthaRenee17: Thanks for reviewing! I totally understand being busy, as you can tell by how long this took me to update. Hope you're having a good school year so far!**

**Hope everyone has had a lovely summer and that school is going well,**

**- Jenn-**


	29. Oh

**Thank you for favoriting/alerting!  
><strong>**  
><strong>**I've gotten accepted into 3 colleges so far! I've had no rejections yet, but we shall see. Anyways, I'm super sorry for how long it took for me to update. I've had practically no time. Promise I'm going to finish this story! Hope you guys are still reading and enjoying. Also I hope you'll drop a review and if I ever take this long again please bother me with pms or reviews telling me to update. **

**Hope you enjoy this chapter! **

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* * *

><p><em>Chapter 29: Oh...<em>

Easter break was over before James could say "mischief managed". The month of April flew past in a rainy blur. The fact that it was already May was not lost on any of Hogwarts' students. Many were excitedly awaiting the end of the year which was about a month away. Other's were completely freaking out over exams which were a bit closer.

However, Slytherin and Hufflepuff quidditch players and fans were focused on the game that was happening that very moment.

James sat near the Slytherin side and was wearing a green scarf. He had received quite a few confused expressions. James Potter had never supported Slytherin in a quidditch game before.

"Oi, eyes on the game!" He barked in annoyance at a couple of Hufflepuff 2nd year girls who had been tittering a bit too loudly about him and staring quite obviously.

James kept his eyes glued on Meg. She flew expertly. She was quick and smart. Everytime she dived or flipped James would suck in a breath and hold it until she had safely returned to the correct upright position.

James knew he should be paying attention to the chasers as they were in a constant battle to score points, but bludgers were constantly flying towards Meg. Managing to give James' about a million heart attacks. She avoided each one with ease, but it still worried him.

James watched as her eyes widened and she leaned forward on her broom. She shot forward across the sky. She was headed a million miles a minute towards the golden snitch. James held his breath in awe. The rest of the crowd soon caught on as well, all eyes turning to Meg. The Hufflepuff seeker had realized that Meg had spotted the snitch. He had started from the other end of the field towards the glittering object as fast as he possibly could.

James knew what was about to happen before it did. He began to shout.

"They're going to collide!"

Alfie shook his head, from beside James. "No they won't." He was attempting to be reassuring, but James wasn't having it.

"Look!" He pointed as Meg and the Hufflepuff seeker smacked together.

Their bodies and brooms made a loud thud as they hit. They bounced off of each other and both began falling towards the whole crowd had let out a gasp together. A couple people had screamed.

James whipped out his wand, unsure of what he'd do with it, but knowing he had to do something. He didn't have a chance to however. Meg managed to slow her fall, but not prevent it. Her broom had splintered and was difficult to control. She sank to the ground and rolled off her broom. Her team flew to join her. The Hufflepuff players taking off towards their own seeker.

Suddenly the crowd of Slytherin players were jumping and cheering. The crowd was chaos. They were all completely confused.

Scorpius and Hannah lifted Meg on their shoulders, her fist was raised in the air, clenched tightly in it was the snitch.

The crowd went crazy. Those decked in green were jumping, screaming, and hugging. Slytherin could win the cup if Gryffindor lost their game against Ravenclaw in two weeks.

James let out a sigh of relief as Meg grinned at the crowd and waving the snitch in the air.

He managed to fight through the crowds to reach where Scorpius and Hannah held Meg. She was sat unevenly as Hannah was a fair bit shorter than Scorpius.

"You okay?" James shouted up to her. She was grinning with her fist still in the air. Her other arm, however was cradled against her body.

"What?" She yelled back.

"Are you okay?" Meg frowned in confusion and shrugged her shoulders, signaling that she still didn't understand what James was saying. "Are you- oh this is ridiculous!" As he was yelling the cheers had gotten louder, managing to drown him out completely.

He grabbed Scorpius' and Hannah's shoulders and pulled them both down into bows. Meg slid off their shoulders, grabbing onto James shoulder with the hand that clutched the snitch.

"Is your arm hurt?" James yelled directly into her arm. Meg grimaced and nodded.

"A bit." She responded as loud as possible.

"C'mon then." James began guiding Meg through the crowds, a difficult feat, as every single person was attempting to hug and congratulate Meg. James had to physically prevent a couple students from throwing themselves on Meg. She'd wince anytime someone hugged her and smashed her arm against her body.

"Coming through, injured seeker here people. Move it!" James shoved through the crowd, creating a path for Meg. She was apologising to everyone James pushed out of the way. Half of the people didn't even notice and the other half couldn't care less. It amused James that Meg was being so polite.

They made it through the crowd and up to the castle. James led Meg to the Hospital wing. When they arrived they saw a couple Hufflepuffs gathered around the Hufflepuff seeker, who must've been floated over the crowds to get there so fast.

The Hufflepuffs sent nasty looks toward Meg. James stared them down causing Meg to shake her head and giggle.

Miss Pomphrey hurried over to Meg and began examining her. She took out her wand and tapped it. Meg slowly straightened her arm and wiggled her fingers.

"Thank you!" She chimed with a smile.

"What are you doing here Potter? You aren't injured too are you? You weren't even playing today."

"No mam." James chuckled. "Just bringing Meg in."

Miss Pomphrey squinted her eyes suspiciously at James, but turned away from him all the same.

"Will I see you tomorrow Miss Wood?"

Meg nodded. "Yes mam, if you want me."

"Your help is always wanted. See you then, for now be careful with that arm. No lifting heavy things." Miss Pomphrey was off, returning to another patient.

For the rest of the day James carried everything for Meg. He refused to let her pick up anything, including her own fork at lunch.

Meg giggled each time James scooped a much too big spoonful of food and flew it towards her mouth.

"I feel like a baby."

"Open up, here comes the broomstick." James joked jovially.

After a rather amusing lunch that ended in James, Meg, and a Slytherin 4th year being covered in mashed sweet potato, Meg suggested studying by the lake.

The day was fairly beautiful. Everything was clean and sparkling from the rain the day before. The sun shone now and the storm clouds had dissipated sometime last night.

She and James sat at their tree and stared out at the lake. Neither had bothered to bring any of their books so it was doubtful any studying would actually happen.

Their conversation was cut off when Albus and Scorpius joined them. Al threw himself down beside Meg and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Scorpius sat across from them, beside James.

"What do you two want?" James scowled at his brother.

"Oh James, don't be so rude." Meg chided with a roll of her eyes. Al grinned at his brother and stuck his tongue out.

"Yeah James, don't be so rude." Albus jeered like a little kid. James narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to respond.

"Everyone's waiting for you in the common room. We all ate lunch quickly and expected you back by now." Scorpius spoke to Meg.

"Oh?" She responded.

"Yeah, it's a party. They started without you, but I've heard multiple people wondering where you were."

Al nodded along with Scorpius' words.

"Alright, I'm coming." Meg stood slowly. She and Scorpius started off towards the castle.

"You coming James?" She called over her shoulder.

"We'll be up in a minute. I wanna talk to Jamie for a sec." Albus responded. James scowled at his brother.

"You little twerp-" James was cut off by Meg's laughing voice.

"Try not to kill each other in my absence please." She was grinning at James, his scowl softened and he nodded.

"I'll try not too. Either way I'll catch up with you in a bit."

Al watched James face. He was always astounded by the way James acted around Meg. Al was often amused by how willingly James did what Meg asked of him. James was known for his stubbornness, but he gave in much easier to Meg then to anyone else.

Al found it sweet and slightly pathetic how James would hang on to every word Meg said and how Meg seemed to do the same to James. James gazed at Meg as if she was water and he had been stuck in the middle of the desert for ages.

Al hoped that someday he could be just as pathetic as those two. He wanted someone to give up the last bit of treacle tart for, a person he'd look at with the expression of a puppy to its owner, and someone to run to when things were too much. He wanted a girl that he'd willingly jump in front of a hex for, even though she wouldn't need him to.

Al chuckled.

"What?" James turned to look at Al, his frown returning. "What's so funny?"

"You're practically obsessed with her, why haven't you asked her out yet?" Al was genuinely curious as to the answer. After all even the blindest person would've been able to see how much James liked Meg.

"I'm not- I'm not obsessed with her!" James stuttered out in defense. Al snorted.

"Oh Meg I'll follow you wherever you want. I'll catch up and go to party in your dorm even though I hate everyone else there." Albus used a low, dumb-sounding voice to imitate his brother. "Fantastic James, I'll see you soon. Kisses." His voice turned falsetto as he imitated Meg.

James smacked Al upside the head. "Those were the worst impressions I've ever heard." James scoffed. Al chuckled again.

"See you aren't denying it!" His voice became more serious. "really James, why haven't you asked her out yet? Everyone can see how perfect you two are for each other.

James ruffled his hair anxiously. He shrugged helplessly. "I don't know Al… It's just- Well she's so amazing and she probably only sees me as a friend." James sighed. "Which is fine you know, not her fault, and I love being her friend- I just…" James trailed off.

"You want to be more." Al nodded in understanding. "So ask her. If she doesn't like you she'd turn you down nicely.

"I know." James responded unconvinced.

"She won't say no. I'm sure of it. She looks at you the same way you do her." Al reassured him. "Trust me."

James shrugged again. "I'll think about it." He responded.

"Cool, let's go to the party." Albus started towards the castle. James jogged a couple steps to catch up.

"I don't hate everyone in Slytherin by the way.

"Sure." Albus responded with a chuckle.

"I don't I like Hannah and Layla. Scorpius isn't too bad either."

Albus continued laughing as James spit out more excuses as to why he was interested in going to the Slytherin party in the first place.

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><p>"Hey have you seen James?" Meg had been at the party for half an hour now. Everyone was happy and loud and some of the older students were drunk as one of them had snuck in firewhisky and supplied it to their close friends only.<p>

Meg had been offered some as well, but she'd decided to decline. She wasn't in the mood to get drunk before 5:00. She'd rather not stumble down to dinner with alcohol breath.

"Yes, I have!" Hannah responded a bit too excitedly. Her cheeks were flushed pinker than normal and her eyes were unfocused. Meg suspected Hannah hadn't refused the offer of alcohol that seemed to be extended to all the Slytherin quidditch players.

"Alright, where?" Meg encouraged her friend to continue.

"Ida-know." Hannah squinted her eyes in thought as her words ran together. "He was looking for you though." She added unhelpfully.

"Thanks." Meg laughed and rolled her eyes.

"Hey Meg! James was looking for you over by the drinks table." Alfie had joined the two, his arm slung instantly over Hannah's shoulders.

Meg hurried off to find James. A grin stretched across her face as she saw him. He was leaning away from Anna Faring, a 5th year Slytherin who was talking rather enthusiastically to him. She was continuously moving closer to him and touching his arm. James appeared incredibly uncomfortable and it made Meg want to laugh.

She watched for a bit, debating whether she should be nice enough to save him from the uncomfortable situation or leave him to fend for himself. She decided she'd save him, but not until after she had a little fun first.

"Hey James, Anna." She greeted. James let out a breath of air and sent her a relieved look.

"Oh, hullo Meg." Anna smiled kindly. "I was just talking to James about the match. You know, thanking him for cheering Slytherin on."

Meg nodded. "How nice of you." She grinned. "Perhaps you could cheer him on in his game against Hufflepuff."

James shot Meg a horrified look.

"Oh that's a great idea. What do you think James? Maybe I could wear one of your jerseys. Quidditch players have more than one jersey right?"

"They do." Meg confirmed with an evil grin.

"Mines dirty." James said quickly.

"Well good think you have two weeks to clean it, yeah?" Meg patted James arm gently. James eyes narrowed at her.

"Anna if you don't mind I have to kill Meg so…" James grabbed at Meg, but she was off. She weaved through the crowd attempting to escape James. He chased after her.

After a couple minutes of weaving, James had Meg trapped in a corner. He charged forward, grabbing her around the middle and swinging her in a circle. He began to tickle her and she let out a couple squeals of laughter.

"You evil little minx!" He cried out.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She managed between giggles.

"Sure you are." He intoned sarcastically, but ceased tickling her all the same.

"You have to admit it was funny." She pointed out.

"Whatever." James mumbled. "C'mon lets get drinks." He pulled her back to the drink table.

Meg couldn't help grinning at him. She always felt so happy around him. He was one of the funniest people she knew.

"Now what am I supposed to do? I can't give her my jersey." James groaned.

"Give it to someone else. Tell her you'd already promised it to them and hadn't had a chance to tell her." Meg suggested. James nodded thoughtfully.

"Good plan, who though?"

"Me." Meg suggested herself without thinking. Her eyes widened slightly realizing what she'd just said.

"Yeah, okay." James nodded. "You'd do that for me to keep her off me?"

Meg shrugged. "It's kind of my fault in the first place so I suppose I owe you."

"Yeah, you do." James grinned and handed her a drink.

Meg's answer hadn't been completely truthful. She knew she hadn't offered to wear his jersey because she felt like she had to. She offered because she'd wanted to, which was weird. She shouldn't want to support Gryffindor, after all if they lost then Slytherin automatically won the cup. If they won however, depending on how much they won by, they could beat Slytherin for the cup. She should've been supporting Ravenclaw.

It suddenly dawned on her. If she was putting a guy over her quidditch loyalties, it had to mean she liked him. Liked him as in a more then friends way.

She suddenly felt a bit relieved and a bit confused at the same time. Her realization had put a couple things into perspective.

James always distracted her much too easily. Hannah wasn't capable of dissuading Meg from taking notes in class, but James could halt her note taking in an instant. He was also capable at making her laugh when she was in her cruddiest moods. He was easy enough for her to talk to and her stomach felt funny when he leaned close to her.

"Oh." She muttered to herself in slight surprise.

"Sorry, what was that?" James had been talking and stopped when she spoke.

"Nothing." She smiled at him. "Sorry, continue." he launched back into the story he'd been telling before.

Oh. Meg thought to herself this time. Oh.

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><p><strong><span>Imightjustwishiwasaweasley<span>: Thanks, glad you liked it!**

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	30. Almost the End of the School Year

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><p><em>Chapter 30: Almost the End Of The School Year<em>

Hannah, Layla, Meg, Alfie, James, Al, Scorpius, Fred and Lily all sat beneath the tree by the lake. They'd all spread out on a blanket (Meg had cast an engorgio to make it large enough) and were eating snacks from the kitchens.

It was a sunny day. The weather always seemed to grow cheerier as summer came closer. The group was shouting over each other and peels of laughter were let out every couple seconds.

Every time their group laughed they'd receive looks. They were very distinct as they were louder and larger than any other group that was out enjoying the lovely day. They also had quite a few red-heads, whose hair was exceedingly bright on such a sunny day.

"How do you feel about NEWTS?" Layla asked Fred. He clapped his hands over his ears.

"Don't speak of them! I've still got two weeks! Two!" He insisted. The others laughed at him. Layla smiled and apologised for bringing it up.

"I'm terrified for OWLS." Albus groaned.

"Me too." Scorpius grabbed for a chocolate frog and began peeling off its packaging. The frog made a great leap and started off towards the water. "Oi! Come back here." Scorpius jumped to his feet and sprinted after his chocolate. He dived after it as it made one last leap into the water.

Scorpius landed with a splash into the water. Everyone roared with laughter. He stood and found himself knee deep in the water. His face was turning pink as the others laughter continued. He sloshed back to the shore and plopped down beside Lily. She was stifling her giggles with her hands.

"Don't worry Al, all they care about during the OWLS is if you can cast a fully corporeal patronus." James shrugged nonchalantly and bit into a sandwich.

"What?" Al's eyes widened. "But I can't- we never learned-"

"He's only pulling your leg." Layla reassured him. He let out a large breath in relief. Then he launched himself at James. The two began rolling around on the ground as they shouted insults.

"Boys." Meg muttered to Hannah, shaking her head in exasperation.

"I know, honestly." Hannah leaned back against Alfie, attempting to cuddle. He however, seemed unaware as he reached forward to grab an apple and eat it. Hannah ended up laying awkwardly all the way on her back, flat.

"Are you guys ready for the game tomorrow?" Scorpius asked loudly.

"Definitely!" Fred grinned wide. "It'll be the greatest game of my hogwarts career."

"Well now you've jinxed it." Lily told him matter-of-factly. Fred rolled his eyes and tossed a chip at her. Lily caught it and threw it in her mouth.

"I think we've got a chance." James had Al pinned down and was able to contribute to the conversation again. "Ravenclaw beat Hufflepuff into the ground, and they lost against Slytherin by just a few points. If we can score sixty more than them as well as catch the snitch we'll beat Slytherin."

"It'll be difficult to get sixty over them. I think Gryffindor can easily get forty over them, but sixty might be a stretch." Meg reasoned with James. He nodded thoughtfully.

"I think that'd be true if Marky Fink wasn't out. He's an excellent keeper, but his girlfriend wasn't too happy to find him with Charlie Bentz and gave him a couple rather nasty hexes."

Meg leaned forward. "That might give you guys the edge you need."

Alfie groaned and put his head in his hands.

"Here they go again!" Scorpius chuckled.

"Oh hush you lot." James blushed. "The game is tomorrow, I think I have the right to talk about it."

Fred rolled his eyes. "It's one thing to talk to someone about it, but to constantly bludgeon them with the information and the statistics…" Fred hung his head, eyes closed and let out a loud snore imitation.

"Okay we get it, we'll chill." Meg chuckled at her friends desperate actions.

James left Al on the ground and sat beside Meg. He lowered his voice to a whisper and leaned in close to her.

"How much of an edge do you think it'll give us?"

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><p>Al was on his way to the library. He knew that's where he'd find Scorpius in their shared free period. The two usually met in the library to get some of their work done. Al wasn't quite as good at staying on task as Scorpius though and he usually ended up trying to convince Scorp to go on some ridiculous escapade half way through. He was brainstorming a new idea of what might convince Scorp at that moment as he was feeling even less motivated to do homework then usually.<p>

Scorp was distractible only if Al could think up the perfect excuse for ditching their work. He'd run out of time though as he'd reached the library. He'd have to just wing it.

Al was quite surprised to find Meg sitting at his and Scorp's usual table. She was across from Scorp, tapping her quill against her chin as she stared down at a book.

"Why are you here?" Al sat beside Scorp and inquired to Meg with pure curiosity. He knew she had a class during this period.

She looked up and she smiled.

"I got to class and it was raining." She started off. This confused Al, last he'd checked it'd only been a bit cloudy outside. With a glance towards the window it confirmed that there was in fact no rain. "In the classroom." She explained at his confusion.

"Really?" Al was much more interested in her story then in any of the work he was supposed to start.

Scorpius on the other hand must've already heard the story as he continued reading. He flipped a page and ignored the other two.

Al turned back to Meg and waited for her to continue.

"Apparently some 4th year accidentally said the wrong incantation and 'bang' a thunderstorm is suddenly raging around the classroom. The rain managed to soak through the lesson plans and one kid got electrocuted by lightning. Professor Bell had to let us go at that point. She was so frantic and told us to just take a free period because she was going to need Professor Greening to help her stop it." Meg told her story with her hands waving around in the air for emphasis at certain points.

"You're so lucky!" Al groaned. He'd been feeling overly stressed lately with his OWLS only a week away. The teachers had been piling on the essays and readings as a last ditch attempt at making all the students a bit smarter. "James will be so jealous."

Meg giggled at his statement. She knew he was right and so did he. Although Al suspected that James would be more jealous of the fact that Al was spending a whole period with Meg while James was in class then he would be of Meg's luck in getting out of class.

"Where are Hannah and Layla?" Scorpius finally pulled himself away from his book.

"Hannah woke up with a headache and stomach bug, she's been in the hospital wing all day. Pomphrey won't let anyone visit either." Meg wrinkled her nose as she mentioned 'stomach bug' and Al had a feeling there was probably a very gross reason behind it. She continued speaking. "And Layla went off with some Hufflepuff boy that's she's just started dating. He was in our class too."

"Which Hufflepuff boy?" Al inquired. At this point he was trying for any excuse to not start his work.

Meg tapped her chin in thought with her quill. After a few moments she simply shrugged.

"Can't remember exactly."

Al gave her an incredulous look. "It's one of those Schmander twin. I'm always mixing them up." She added the last part defensively.

Al understood. He'd known Lysander and Lorcan for years and still managed to confuse the two of them sometimes. He'd practically know them since birth.

"Lysander is in Hufflepuff…. I think." Al spoke slowly. "But aren't they both 5th years?"

Al knew they were about his age. Meg nodded.

"Yeah, but Lysander, if that's right, is brilliant. He's in a number of advanced classes, meaning he's got quite a few with 6th years. That's how he and Layla met."

Albus could think of nothing more to add to the conversation, but he wasn't ready to begin his work anytime soon either. He racked his brain for absolutely anything to talk about. After a couple minutes of silence he opened his mouth and let the first thing that popped into his brain out.

"How do you feel about James?"

Both Scorpius and Meg were wearing practically identical shocked expressions. Scorpius appeared slightly horrified, he was shaking his head slowly, eyes wide. Al instantly wished that he'd just started one of his dumb essays.

James would kill him if he found out…

"W-What?" Meg stuttered out. She was obviously still surprised by Al's abruptness.

Al knew at this point he should back pedal, say nevermind, and change the subject. Instead he found his vocal cords and brain in disagreement. He spoke again without really meaning to.

"James is crazy about you, but he's afraid of ruining your friendship or something. He hopes that you like him back, but won't ask to find out if you do. Do you?" Al silently cursed at his inability to keep a secret. The only one he'd ever been able to keep was the one his father had told him at the platform to reassure him about the sorting.

Meg's mouth gaped open and then shut, then opened again, just like a fish. Scorpius was holding his head in his hands and muttering under his breath.

"I-uh, I do." Meg's voice was quiet.

The three of them stopped talking after that. Al took out his parchment and began writing his essay. Procrastination had only caused him issues. The three remained silent and still even after the bell rang, signaling the end of classes.

About five minutes later James and Alfie entered the library a bit too loudly. They spotted Al, Scorpius and Meg and started over towards their table. James beelined for Meg. She however, was quickly shoving her things into her bag.

"Hey!" James grinned at her.

Al felt incredibly guilty when Meg barely returned a smile and muttered an excuse of some sort, proceeding to leave rather swiftly.

"I'll see you at dinner?" James called after her with a slight frown. She didn't hear him, or perhaps she had and was ignoring him, either way she didn't respond. "Is she okay?"

James turned to Al and Scorpius in question. Al nodded and avoided eye contact with everyone.

"Yeah, she's just been here all last period because her classroom was raining or something. She's probably just finished with studying, tired of doing it, you know?" Al mumbled. James shrugged and sat, he accepted Al's excuse without much dispute.

"So you spent all period with Meg?" James voice was a forced casual.

"Yeah." Al cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Oh." James responded.

Scorpius and Alfie were trying not to laugh at James' faux indifferent reaction.

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><p><strong>Please review, I'm so close to 100 reviews!<strong>

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	31. Saturday

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><p><em>Chapter 31: Saturday<em>

Meg had taken awhile to decide what she should do about James liking her back. She'd been unsure whether she should make a move to make him aware that she was very much interested in the whole more then friends thing, or whether she should wait for him to realize it himself by dropping small hints.

Meg realized after all of this that James Potter was one of the most oblivious people that existed. Surely if she left it up to him, they'd stay friends who wanted more forever or they'd move on. She wasn't sure what would be worse.

With all these thoughts flying around her head she decided to go down to the quidditch pitch.

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><p>James had gotten out of his last final of the day. He'd been doing tests all week and he was glad he only had one more day and then it'd be time to go home. However, he wasn't exactly as ecstatic as he should've been as he hadn't actually gotten to talk to Meg that week. They'd maybe exchanged five 'hellos' over the past eight days. A rare, unheard of occurrence. It was uncommon for Meg to not tell him at least three stories a day, meaning only one thing; she had to be avoiding him.<p>

James ran through all the things he'd done lately in his mind, searching for anything that might've caused Meg to be upset with him. The last time she had avoided him was their fight in Hogsmeade months ago. James began to feel panicky at that thought. What had he done and how could he make it right? He was sure that he couldn't apologise for something he didn't know that he'd done. It would be an empty apology and Meg didn't deserve that.

James was being driven mad and he knew the only way he could fix it was by going to the source. He took out the Marauders' Map and searched for her name.

She was at the quidditch pitch, not surprising.

He pocketed the map, grabbed his broomstick and made his way toward the pitch.

She was flying around when James got there, doing small tricks and throwing around a quaffle. James mounted his own broom and kicked off.

"Meg!" He yelled her name when he had become close enough that she was bound to hear him. She pulled up from her spiralling dive, flipped her head up causing her hair to land on her left side and slowly slide back into place as she stilled.

"James?" She'd dropped the quaffle to the ground and spoke with a breathy voice. She grinned at him then, confusing James even more than he had been before. Was she angry at him or not?

"I'll race you to the post and back?" James suggested. He knew Meg couldn't resist a good bit of competition and if he was going to get her talking to him he had to start somewhere.

Meg's eyes narrowed playfully. "Think you can beat me?"

"Of course." James waved his hand around with easy confidence.

"You're on!" She took off, James following after her quickly. The two were lightning fast, with Meg's broom only a few feet in front of James'. She sped past the goal posts and turned around, James met her.

"You had a head st-" he started to make an excuse, but Meg leaned forward. Her lips met his, successfully cutting him off. James brain exploded. Meg was kissing him. He leaned forward, attempting to bring her closer than she already was. He felt her lips twitching in a smirk against his, but he couldn't find himself caring enough about why to pull away from their lip lock.

Meg pulled away from James just as quickly as she had instigated the kiss and left him flabbergasted. She rocketed to the ground and landed smoothly. She glanced up at him and called out loudly with a huge grin.

"Haha I win!" James nearly fell off his broom, he straightened quickly and dived down after her. She was already walking off the pitch, he couldn't have that now!

James ran after her and yanked her arm, twirling her to face him. His lips found hers as fast as possible. This time he was the one grinning against her lips. Meg took a step closer to him, it wasn't enough for James. His hand was still on her arm, he yanked her forward into his chest. Meg giggled causing James to kiss her a little bit harder.

Meg began to pull away, but James' lips followed her's. Meg laughed against him and put a hand to his chest, shoving. James let out a small whine.

"I was winning." He pouted. Meg grinned.

"I beat you by a-"

"No not in the racing!" James interrupted. "I was winning because I got to kiss the prettiest girl in Hogwarts." He gave her wide innocent eyes at this statement and waited for her to blush or something. She didn't blush, but she did smile, although it was obvious she was trying not to.

"You are so cheeky."

"I thought I was being sweet." James pouted again. Meg pecked his lips quickly and pulled back.

"I think you were being cheesy." She told him with exasperation.

"Romantic." James corrected her. Meg threw her head back to laugh.

"Hmm." She responded.

"I was! Honestly I don't see why you don't appreciate me." He pouted at her, causing her to grab his hand. She started towards the castle, pulling him along gently behind her.

"You think you're perfect don't you." She teased with a n over-exaggerated sigh.

"Not think. Know. " He told her with conviction. Meg rolled her eyes and James faked insult at her disagreement. He rose his free hand to his chest and gasped.

They reached the castle doors after much bickering and laughter. Meg stepped forward to pull the door open but James stopped her.

"Uh wait," he ruffled his hair nervously. Meg stopped and looked at him, waiting patiently.

"What James?" She asked after a moment of silence. He stared at the ground and scratched the back if his neck.

"It's just..." He sighed and raised his eyes to meet hers. "Well. You kissed me."

"I did." She responded, raising her eyebrows in amusement. He nodded.

"Right well, does that, uh. Does that mean anything?" Meg squinted her eyes in confusion.

"What do you mean?" James sighed again, his hand was viciously combing through his hair.

"I like you." He spoke quickly. "And I was hoping that kiss meant... Well uh, the point is... You see. Would you wanna maybe, uh..." James was stumbling all over his words nervously and had no clue how to save himself from further embarrassment. Meg seemed to understand though.

"Yes." She smiled kindly. She leaned forward and kissed him gently. "I like you too, so yes Id like to go out on a date with you. You're lucky we go home in two days, leaving my Saturday night free." Meg turned to walk away shoving the doors open and leaving a shocked James standing on the steps. It took him a moment to process what happened.

James ran after her. He got inside and looked around wildly, he saw Meg's dark curls turn a corner. He chased after her. He was surprised at how much he'd ended up doing that in the past ten minutes.

"Meg!" He shouted her name, causing a few people in the hallway to turn and look at him. Meg included.

"Yeah?" She she offered him an amused smile.

"I'll pick you up at six?."

"Yeah, okay." she smiled and continued walking. James grinned to himself, turning to go up to Gryffindor tower. He skipped and whistled all the way there.

He wasn't sure how exactly he'd lost his cool with her, considering he'd never had a problem asking girls out before. He supposed he shouldn't compare anything with Meg to his experiences with previous girls. She was something different. Something more.

His whistling brought the attention of those who were inside the Gryffindor common room, Alfie and Fred included. His friends jumped up and followed him to the stairs.

"What's got you so happy?" They asked in unison, watching as he hopped up the stairs. James barely paused in his skipping.

"Saturday." He responded with a happy hum at the end. Fred and Alfie exchanged confused looks and raised their eyebrows.

"Oh?" They chimed together.

"Precisely" James had stopped at the top of the stairs and turned to face his friends. He grinned at them and winked. He turned back around and skipped into his dorm, leaving a couple very confused Gryffindors behind him.

.

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><p><strong>Yay 100 reviews have been reached! Thanks guys!<strong>

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**- Jenn-**


	32. You Do Too Own Khakis

**Hey guys, sorry for such a long wait! I'm about to graduate and felt eternally busy for the longest time. However, I just finished my internship and I'm now on summer break so here come more updates!**

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><p><em>Chapter 32: You Do To Own Khakis<em>

Hestia was scowling at Meg with her arms crossed in the way they often did whenever she was angry and putting her foot down. It wasn't something that happened often. "Meg, it's rude and unkind for you to leave when your cousins only visit once a month." Meg huffed loudly at her mother's suddenly stubborn behavior. She wanted to groan aloud at just the thought of having to sit in her room while her cousins rifled through her things and caused all sorts of mayhem.

"Well, honestly them visiting once a month is more than enough time for them to drive me up the wall. I can't stand them!" She expressed vehemently with absolutely no affect on her mother. "Mom, please." She whined.

Hestia sighed and shoved her hair back. Meg was a good daughter, always had been. When she was a baby she was pleasant and rarely screamed, then as she got older despite her being incredibly curious, Meg had worked hard to please her mother. Her grades were excellent and she was both a prefect and Quidditch Captain for two years, possibly three, in a row, something that made both of her parents exceptionally proud. Hestia wasn't used to her amicable daughter arguing with her, she'd supposed that it had to happen some day considering teenage girls were expected to be a handful, especially to their mothers.

"Look Meg, I love you. I want you to go out with your friends, but not today. Our family is coming over, which means you have an obligation as a host-"

"But mum," Meg began with a pleading pout. "Hannah was really excited and today is James' last day before his family goes on vacation and…" Hestia's eyes went wide when her daughter said the boy's name. It wasn't often that Meg talked about boys to her mother, she seemed to believe that she'd figured boys out for herself and often Hestia was too busy to help her daughter with the other gender anyways.

"Who is James?" She inquired, agog for an answer.

"James Potter." Meg answered with a shrug of her shoulders and a wave of her hand. "That's not the point mum. As I-" Hestia wasn't going to let Meg get away with brushing her question off so easily.

"James Potter?" Meg sighed in annoyance at her mother's persistence.

"Mum, I-" Hestia interrupted, thrilled to be talking about something with her daughter other than school, quidditch, work, or Hannah and Layla.

"What about James?"

Meg breathed out loudly, but responded anyways.

"You remember him don't you? I stayed with him at Christmas and then he came over for Easter hols." Hestia nodded now, recalling that Meg had written about staying at the Potter's for Christmas. Hestia could recall Oliver retelling old stories of quidditch at Hogwarts she grinned at the thought of her husband and his ridiculous obsession with quidditch. Not to say that her's and her sister's were any less obsessive and ridiculous. Hestia may not be the best quidditch player, but she did love the sport and she enjoyed watching her husband, sister or daughter play. Often she'd go and watch Gwenog's or Oliver's games under the pretense of reporting them and not just being a major fan.

"I thought you'd said his name was Jamie." Meg let out a surprised laugh.

"I probably did actually, it's how I tease him." Meg shrugged "Sorry mum." Hestia sighed, disbelievingly at her daughter's innocence in this. Surely she'd written Jamie so her mother wouldn't know she was hanging out with a boy over two holidays.

"Christmas and Easter? Is there something I should know about the Potter boy?" Meg rolled her eyes, with a smile pulling at her lips.

"You'll meet him soon enough mum. He and his whole family are lovely, I promise." Hestia grinned remembering Gwenog introducing Ginny Potter to her a couple years ago and she could recall multiple stories her husband had told her about the famous Harry Potter.

"Yes, they seem charming. Why don't you invite James over then. He's a teenage boy, I'm sure he'd love to eat free food and be in your company." Meg giggled at her mother's compliment.

"I suppose so…"

"It's a compromise." Hestia ticked Meg's nose lovingly. "You get a friend to help fend against the triplets and I get to meet a boy from your life for once." Meg shook her head.

"Alright, I'll apparate over not, shall I?" Meg barely awaited her mother's response as she took out her wand ready to go.

"No apparating in the kitchen!" Hestia chided lovingly. She sent Meg a smile as the girl rolled her eyes. "and please invite his whole family while you're at it. I'm sure your dad would love to see Harry again." Meg nodded and called a goodbye to her mother.

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><p>Meg apparated to James house and knocked heavily on his door. The footsteps running to the door could be heard along with yells.<p>

"I'll get it!" Lily's voice became clearer as the door swung open to reveal the small redhead. "It's Meg!" She called back into the house.

"Coming!" James voice sounded from the other room. Meg grinned at Lily and greeted her.

"Hey Lil, I actually was wondering if I could talk to Ginny?" Lily nodded and lead Meg into the kitchen.

"Hullo Ginny." Meg greeted kindly and received the hug given to her.

"How are you Meg?"

"Good. My mum was wondering if you all wanted to come over to our house for lunch. We are having a small get together. Just some friends and family and mum thought you might like to join?" Ginny beamed and glanced at the clock, noticing it was only ten.

"That sounds lovely dear, what time?" Before Meg could answer James voice interrupted from the other room.

"Lily, where did you take my friend?" He sounded quite annoyed with his younger sister.

"In the kitchen you dummy." Lily called back, quickly apologising to her mum at the stern look sent her way. Meg continued talking to Ginny.

"Like 12 to 12:30 until whenever." Ginny nodded.

"Sure, we will be there." James had entered at this part, dressed in a t-shirt and pyjama pants, the ones with the snitches on them that made Meg giggle.

"Hey Meg!" He ran his hand through his hair. "I thought we weren't going until 1:00 and we were going to meet at the beach?" Meg smiled amused, as James attempted to flatten his hair slightly.

"No, I can't go. Mum wouldn't let me skip out on the party." Meg explained, James' face fell. "Don't worry though, apparently Hannah got herself grounded and can't go either. Plus my mum has invited your whole family to come." James perked up slightly, but tried to pretend he wasn't that excited.

"I don't wanna go to a party where the evil trio are going to be." Meg laughed at his scrunched up nose and patted his head, screwing up his hair with her hand.

"Deal. You like me, so you'll come and you'll be happy about it." James groaned.

"Fine." He dragged out his i in a long whine, but winked at her afterwards.

"Quit it James." Ginny rolled her eyes at her son's dramatics. James simply pouted at his mother, and began dragging his feet out of the kitchen. "Put on something more appropriate!" Ginny called after him. He groaned and started up the steps. Meg giggled before running up after him.

"I'll help him find something… nice." Meg caught up to James, who'd been paused half-way up the stairs, obviously expecting Meg to follow him. She looped her arm through his and they continued up to the third floor where James' room was.

When they entered, it appeared much the same as last time Meg had seen it. The only difference were the swim trunks laid across his bed and a few new pictures on his door.

"What should I wear." James groaned. Meg giggled.

"Button up shirt and khakis." She suggested while going to his door and positioning it so she could examine all the pictures. James went into his closet and began digging around. Meg heard his complaints and groans as he looked, so she decided to ignore him.

A few additional photos had been added to James door since the last time Meg had oggled it. Added to the pictures of his family and Alfie there was a new picture of Meg, Alfie, Hannah, Layla and James. Hannah and Alfie were wearing matching winter hats, as were James and Meg. Hannah and Alfie kept leaning in to kiss, while James spun Meg and she laughed. Layla stood in the middle and was grinning from ear to ear, every once and awhile reaching over and tugging Hannah away from Alfie's lips. Meg remembered when the picture was taken, and she grinned now, glad that the memory had been captured forever. Another added picture was the Potter's Christmas card with them all dressed in matching sweaters and mussed hair, but wide grins.

"How's this?" Meg turned to see James in a green button up and jeans. She smiled, the green shirt did wonders for his hazel eyes. She moved a couple steps closer to him.

"I told you to wear khakis." She said with a roll of her eyes. James shrugged at her.

"I don't own any?"

"Liar!" Meg shook her head at James, but grabbed his hand and tugged him toward her all the same. She gave him a short sweet kiss and then pulled away much to James' disagreement. She began dragging him back down the stairs. "But it's fine, you look good."

"I know." James winked cockily, causing Meg to sigh in exasperation, although a small smile played at her lips.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! Pretty, pretty please leave a comment.<strong>

**SamanthaRenee17: Sorry my updating took so long, I'm getting ready for college... haha. Thanks for the review!**

**ali the retriever: thank you, thank you, thank you! Your review was so sweet and made me smile real big. **

**SilenceIsCompliance: You're too sweet! Glad you enjoy this. I tried to keep my characters pretty realistic so I'm glad they match up with real life people.**

**HPLife: Meg and James 5ever ;)**

**xXallegedangelXx: Thanks for your review! You're so sweet!**

**Hope you're all having a lovely week,**

**- Jenn -**


	33. A Party, Then A Beach Day

**And another chapter so soon since I totally owe you guys. Again, thanks for being patient with me. Also a HUGE thanks for 139 followers, 84 favorites, and a little over 100 reviews. You guys are honestly the best.**

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><p><em>Chapter 33: A Party, Then A Beach Day<em>

James went with Meg early back to her house, claiming he couldn't stand being stuck in his own house any longer. Meg attempted to explain that being stuck in her house wouldn't be any better. James responded, quite cheekily, that he wouldn't mind being stuck with her anywhere. She'd responded with "Cheesey."

That was about an hour and a half earlier.

"I'm bored." James whined. Meg peaked up from her book, "Charms to Heal and Deal", with a loud sigh.

"I did tell you my house was just as boring as yours." She told him quite pointedly. "You're the one that insisted on coming anyways."

James pouted at her.

"Yeah, but I didn't realize that you were going to sit and read. I thought we'd be… keeping busy."

Meg chuckled at his suggestive tone, how very teenage boy of him.

"I don't know why, I specifically told you I was going to read."

James shrugged. "I thought that was code or something."

Meg laughed incredulously at him and shook her head fondly.

"There are other things to do besides snog all the time." She told him. It was James turn to look at her incredulously, although more jokingly.

"No way, I don't believe you." He shook his head at her and then gave her a wide grin. Before Meg could respond to him a knock came at her door.

"Meg, sweetie? Guests will be arriving soon and I was thin- Oh." Hestia had entered Meg's room already speaking, only to stop when her eyes landed on James. "I didn't realize that a guest already had arrived."

She raised her eyebrows at Meg and then glanced back quite pointedly at James. Meg glanced at her mother and placed her book down on her bed.

"Mum, this is James Potter. James this is my mum."

Hestia walked to James and offered her hand. He jumped to his feet and took her hand, shaking it nervously. "Nice to meet you mam." His other hand pushed through his hair and Meg smiled fondly at the familiar movement.

"Please call me Hestia." Hestia glanced at Meg and spoke to her. "Why don't you head on down. James can help your father in the kitchen, while we head out to the lawn."

Meg sighed and nodded.

"You know where the kitchen is?" The question was a rhetorical one pointed at James, who nodded in response. "See you in a bit then." Meg leaned up and kissed his cheek as she followed her mom out.

Hestia had Meg assisting her with hanging a couple decorations that would've been done much faster had Hestia just used her wand. But as Meg had suspected her mother had wanted to talk with her, meaning she was going to take her sweet time hanging those decorations. Meaning Meg had to hang them by hand.

"So, tell me about you and James how long has that been going on?" Hestia was watching Meg hang fairy lights across the porch.

"I dunno mum. We just became friends at the beginning of the year." Meg sighed and then turned to face her mother. "We went on a date the day after last term finished and another one three days ago, but that's all so far."

Meg was honest with her mother, hoping that Hestia would decide to put her out of her misery and just use magic for the decorations. Hestia tapped her foot and stared at Meg for a moment.

"And you like him?"

Meg laughed. "Yes mum, I like the boy that I'm dating." Hestia nodded at her daughter's words.

"He's nice?" Meg smiled at her mother's concern. She hopped down from the chair she'd been standing on and moved over to her mother. Her hands grabbed her mum's and she spoke gently.

"Well you've met him. He is, dad loves him already and I'm sure you will too. His family is absolutely wonderful and he's funny." Meg paused for a moment. "I'm good at taking care of myself mum, especially when it comes to boys. Trust me I won't put up with any shit, from any guy."

Hestia smiled at her daughter and pulled her in for a tight hug.

"You're such an adult now, all grown up and everything." Hestia spoke sentimentally and pulled away giving Meg an approving once over as if just realizing how tall and pretty she'd become. She pulled the rest of the way out of the hug and flicked her wand. The remaining decorations flew into place quickly.

"I've been an adult since October mum." Meg rolled her eyes.

"Yet you still forgot you could use magic outside of school." Hestia teased gesturing at the decorations that were now hanging perfectly in place. Meg laughed, realizing that she had indeed forgotten that she too could have waved her wand at anytime and been done. She supposed that old habits die hard. "Now, let's get inside and check on the boys."

Meg nodded at her mother's urgence. "Good idea, for all we know, James might've blown something up. I'm not sure we should've trusted him in the kitchen."

Hestia glanced at her daughter with wide eyes. "Why didn't you say that before."

Meg chuckled and followed after her mother who was now hurrying herself as quickly as possible towards the kitchen.

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><p>The party was in full swing by one thirty. When Meg had said "just some friends and family", she'd been downplaying it quite a bit. The Wood's large lawn was swamped with people. Oliver's whole team had shown up, bringing along any significant others and children. Gwenog Jones had come too, as did all sort of uncles, aunts, and cousins of Meg's, and some of Meg's neighbors as well. Layla stopped by briefly with flowers, but had to leave a bit later.<p>

James was in awe at how many people were actually there. His family included.

"So do you have this many people every year?" James yelled over the crowd and the music.

"Pretty much." Meg answered with a smile. "C'mon let's dance!" She grasped James hands and yanked him to the impromptu dance floor. James saw both Meg's parents and his own dancing crazily only moments before. Luckily, they were now seated at one of the tables, chatting and eating.

When Meg danced James was reminded of the first time he'd seen her dance. Her moves were just as wild, crazy, and out of beat as then. He couldn't help but grin widely as he spun her. This time she was dancing with only him though, no Zabini anywhere in sight.

"You having a good time?" Meg shouted in his ear. He gave her a swift kiss.

"With you? Always." He told her with a large grin. She rolled her eyes.

"You are so cheesey James Potter. Has anyone ever told you that?" She shook her head fondly.

"Just you." Was his cheeky response.

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><p>The party wasn't over until about seven. James didn't understand how he was still able to stand. He was sore from dancing for about six hours, (the other hour he'd spent eating) and now he was ready to sleep for about a year.<p>

His whole family thanked Meg's profusely.

Lily had been so excited about all the famous quidditch players and had gotten to talk to almost every single one. Albus had gotten to dance with at least 5 different girls, all very pretty. Ginny and Harry had spent a lot of time catching up with Oliver and getting to know Hestia. James had spent all his time with Meg and had even gotten to pull a prank on the Burke triplets.

Overall the afternoon had been a huge success.

When the Potters had gotten home they ate a quick, haphazardly thrown together dinner and then went to bed early. Partying was exhausting work.

James had plans to stay in bed all the next day, since that's what summer break was for anyways. The rest of his family was out of the house by ten o'clock. Lily and Albus leaving to hang out with a group of friends. Harry and Ginny going out on errands, with plans to meet Ron and Hermione for lunch.

James snuggled deeply into his bed with thoughts of sleeping until at least noon. However, he should've known the quiet wouldn't last long, not with Meg Wood as his girlfriend.

Said girl, came bouncing into his room at ten fifteen, much too early in James opinion, and bounced onto his bed.

"Good morning!' She sang. James yanked his blanket over his head. Mostly because he didn't want her to see the smile pulling at his lips. Although if asked he'd insist it was so that he could block out the sunshine she'd let into his room. "What are you doing today?

Meg pulled the covers away from James' face, eliciting a groan and glare from him.

"Nothing, I'm probably going to lay-"

"Wrong!" Meg's singsong response cut off James sentence. She grasped his arms and yanked on them, in an attempt to pull him out of bed. It only half worked. "You're coming to the beach with Han, Layla, Alfie and me."

James faked a huge sigh. "Alright." He huffed.

"Oh shut it, you should be excited to see three hot girls in bikinis." Meg winked. causing James to perk up. He sat up and sent a smirk her way.

"Really who?"

That response earned him a smack on the arm and a muttered "Prick." from Meg.

He rubbed his arm and pouted at her. "You hurt me." He whined. Meg rolled her eyes.

"Baby." She teased. James stuck out his tongue at her, but got up and began moving to his closet anyways. Meg waited for him to change and grab anything he needed for the beach. When James was ready he hooked arms with Meg, who apparated them to an empty strand of beach. It was hidden between rocks and the back of a restroom. She lead him to the real beach and dragged him along to where their friends were already waiting.

Hannah and Layla were already building some kind of sandcastle, while Alfie had a book and was stretched out on a towel, reading. Meg threw her bag to the ground beside the other girls' stuff. Hannah didn't bother looking up from her sandcastle building, too focussed on carving out windows and designs. Layla stood and offered Meg a hug. Alfie glanced up from his book and gave a smile and short 'hullo', but quickly went back to his book.

"Let's swim!" Meg exclaimed. Layla glanced between the sandcastle and Meg and then smiled apologetically. Alfie held up his book and Hannah still hadn't glanced up.

"Alright, you boring people stay here. James and I will go swim."

Meg freed herself of her sundress and grasped James hand. He oggled her bikini clad body and allowed himself to be pulled towards the waves. Stopping a couple steps away and remembering to remove his shirt.

After some swimming the two returned, exhausted, to the group's towels. Hannah and Layla had finished their sandcastle which was surrounded by sticks, in hopes of protecting it. Hannah lay on her towel beside Alfie who was still reading and Layla had decided to bring out her own book. When Meg and James reached the group Layla offered food from her bag.

Meg and James gratefully bit into the sandwiches in hopes of replenishing their energy and the group sat and chatted for awhile.

"Alf, you wanna go swimming." Hannah put her hand on Alfie's shoulder.

"Not really." He shrugged.

"oh." Hannah retracted her hand slowly and pursed her lips. Alfie glanced at her and then stood.

"Um, but I will… I mean it sounds fun, I was just-Uh caught up in my book." He forced a smile and offered Hannah his hand. She used it to yank herself to her feet and she grinned at him.

"Excellent! I'll race you." The two took off running.

Meg grinned at her friends. It was only the second week of summer holiday and she already could tell the summer would be a good one. She sighed and leaned back against James, putting her head in his lap.

"This is our last summer break, you know?" James asked her. She nodded.

"Yeah, and next year is our last year at Hogwarts." She responded.

"Are you guys scared, you know for an actual job and stuff?" Layla was watching them, her face raised from her book.

James glanced down at Meg. "As long as I've got her, nah."

Meg rolled her eyes. "Cheesey." She told him. But she had to agree.

It was funny how one year could change your life. Meg wasn't sure if she was talking about this last year, or the one to come.

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><p><strong>Okay, so the next chapter is going to skip over their whole summer and go straight to their 7th year of school. I'm trying not to have too many chapters in this story. My goal is to only do 50 at the most. I think that's probably a good stopping point. If it's possible to do less I might. I thought about making their 7th year a separate story, but I couldn't think of a good title and I decided it might be too difficult. <strong>

**Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next one soon to come. **

**Please review, I love hearing your feedback- whether it's good, bad or neutral.**

**Hope you're all having a lovely week,**

**- Jenn -**


	34. Chocolatey

**I'M GRADUATIONG ON FRIDAY! (At least I'm supposed to as long as there is no rain...) I'm super excited! **

**Anyways, here is an update. **

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><p><em>Chapter 34: Chocolatey<em>

James' schedule had stayed basically the same as the year before, including double potions on Monday morning. Although last years double potions had been terrible, this year it was worse. Meg had switched into the Advanced Potions classes this year, taking her out of James class, much to his despair.

James was incredibly disappointed to find out that Meg only had one class with him throughout the week due to her schedule change. Double DADA on Thursdays. Even the free period they'd shared the year before wasn't a free period for Meg anymore as she'd taken to going to the Hospital Wing to help out and learn as much as she could from Miss Pomfrey during those periods.

James wasn't sure how Meg had time for anything considering the load of classes she'd piled on herself, added up with Prefect Duties, and being Quidditch Captain. He couldn't help thinking that his Aunt Hermione would probably be very proud of Meg's workload.

James, however was not too happy about it. He rarely got to see her. Mondays and Sundays he had Quidditch Practice, Tuesdays and Sundays Meg did, and every other day they were attempting to stay caught up in their studies.

Whenever the two were together they'd lean against each other and study, or sit close enough to brush against each other as they did homework. It was driving James mad.

"Mr. Potter, this is the third time I've called your name. Please snap out of your daydreaming and continue taking notes." Professor Boot spoke with a sigh of exasperation.

In James defense the only reason he'd really paid attention in potions before was because Meg had made him. Plus the classroom was hot and stuffy and James was melting. Sweat glistened on every students' brow and James messy thick hair was making his head a lot warmer than it should've been. He couldn't honestly be expected to pay attention in such terrible conditions.

Alfie nudged him. "C'mon you're drifting off again. If Boot catches you he'll probably send you out of the classroom."

James wanted nothing more than for Professor Boot to send him from the classroom, however he didn't want to have to come back on his own time in order to make up what he'd missed. Especially considering his time was limited and he'd rather use it for hanging out with Meg. So, like a good student he took notes, most of which he copied from Alfie and not from listening, and he offered his best falsely interested look to Professor Boot.

After double potions finally ended, James persevered through Transfiguration and then practically sprinted at the sound of the lunch bell. When he made it to the Great Hall, Meg was already there with Hannah. James shoved three students out of the way, elbowed another and yelled at a couple more until he'd successfully made it to her. He leaned down and planted a kiss on her. Meg was giggling against his lips.

"Miss me?" She managed. James sat beside her, causing multiple Slytherins to raise their eyebrows in shock.

Although James and Meg weren't a surprise or new thing, James sitting at the Slytherin table was. In fact it was the first time he'd ever sat there. He seemed not to notice all the looks he was receiving as he was too wrapped up in talking.

"I got used to being with you everyday this summer and then suddenly we hardly see each other. It's really unfair!" He was pouting. Meg leaned forward and pecked his lips.

Every time James pouted she'd taken to leaning over and kissing him, it made James want to pout more, but also made it impossible because it caused him to smile right away. He thought it was a bit unfair at how good she was at making him smile. Not that he truly minded.

"You saw me at breakfast." She told him with a shake of her head.

"I sat through double potions!" He groaned out.

"So did I." Hannah told him. "And you've taken Alfie as a seat mate and both Layla and Meg are in Advanced this year, so I've a lot more to complain about." She told him through a bite of chicken.

James glanced over at where Alfie sat at the Gryffindor table. He was surprised that Alfie hadn't joined him and the girls. James glanced at Hannah, she was also looking at Alfie, albeit a bit sadly. James tried not to think too much on that and turned back to Meg. He was sure the other two would figure that out. Plus he had more pressing matters.

"Double potions without you is pointless and dull and awful." James complained. Meg rolled her eyes at him.

"I have herbology with Ravenclaw now and that has to be worse." She insisted.

"You're great at Herbology!" James argued. "Plus Neville's like the best teacher ever."

"If you're in the Potter or Weasley family maybe." Hannah groaned. "I swear he hates me." She used a fork full of food to point at James. He scowled at the fork as rice flung off towards him.

"Impossible! Neville doesn't hate anyone." James insisted, glancing at the teacher at the front of the room. There Neville was grinning and chatting with some of the other teachers. He had the most friendly face of anyone James knew, except maybe Meg, and he figured that proved his point.

"Except me." Hannah complained. Meg began to nod.

"Except Hannah." She agreed.

James' eyes went wide. He couldn't believe it. "No way." He said adamantly. The three continued to argue throughout lunch and when the bell finally rung. James stood and gave a "You're wrong! Both of you. Wrong and ridiculous." as a form of goodbye.

Meg managed to kiss his cheek before hurrying away to her next class.

James made his way, slowly to History of Magic. One of his least favorite classes, other than potions. He didn't understand how knowing about a bunch of dead guys (and his parents and their friends) was going to help him get a job in the future.

James prepared himself for a class of daydreams starring his favorite Slytherin girl.

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><p>Alfie had had a long day. The first few weeks back from summer vacation were always hard, but since he was taking Advanced Ancient Runes, DADA, Charms and Alchemy it was even worse. Alfie wasn't sure why he'd decided to take so many Advanced courses, but he was sure it had something to do with the fact that he liked learning and needed it for applications. At the moment he was having a hard time convincing himself of that though.<p>

When he'd finished with his classes for the day and he'd gotten back from the Ancient Runes club (there was practically a club for everything these days, so of course he had a meeting with a different one each day) he wanted nothing more than to fall into bed and sleep until dinner.

However, when he got to his room Hannah was waiting for him. He nearly groaned aloud. She had a magazine and was flipping through the pages slowly. Alfie wondered how long she'd been waiting for him. He felt bad for almost groaning, but it was getting difficult to juggle a girlfriend on top of all his classwork and extracurriculars. Plus Hannah was sometimes a little too much to handle, she had a big personality and during times when Alfie just needed peace and quiet she always gave the opposite. Even now as she read she was smacking gum quite loudly and her feet were kicking back and forth. SHe was full of energy that Alfie didn't know what to do with.

Alfie cleared his throat calling her attention to him. Her face fell when she saw him and that confused Alfie instantly. Why was she here if she didn't want to see him. He chocked it up to having a long day like he had and moved forward a couple steps.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" He asked, not unkindly, but with a hint of the exhaustion he felt.

"Do you not like me as much as I like you?" Her question caught him off guard. He watched as she sat up straighter and worked on making her face rather blank. He still saw the worry in her eyes though.

"I-" He froze, he had no clue how to respond. He began thinking about how hanging out with her felt more like a chore now and less like something new and exciting like when they'd first started dating. He thought about how when he'd first seen her not moments before, his first reaction had been an inward groan. Alfie suddenly felt ashamed.

Hannah was a lovely girl. Funny, smart, loyal and fierce. Alfie tried to remember how he used to find her hot, spunky, and refreshing as well.

He still thought she was great, don't get him wrong, it just wasn't in a romantic way anymore. He had no urge to run to her side everytime he saw her, to kiss her when she smiled or pouted or to tuck her hair behind her ear when it fell in her face, all things that James and Meg did on a daily basis.

"It's alright, you know." Hannah had stood after his long silence. She was staring at the floor.

"I'm sorry." Alfie spoke quickly.

He watched a flash of hurt cross in her eyes, but as she glanced up at him she was forcing a brave smile. Alfie's stomach dropped and he felt even worse.

"It's okay. Honestly." Hannah held out her hand in a friendly manner. "Friends." She offered.

Alfie took her hand quickly and gave it a shake. "Yeah."

Her hand retracted just as briskly as she'd offered it. She let out a breath and started for the door.

"Anyways I gotta get going." Her words ran together and then she was gone. The door clicked shut behind her a lot gentler than Alfie expected. He almost wished she'd slammed it in his face.

Logically, he knew most relationships that started at such a young age wouldn't last, but he still felt bad about hurting Hannah. At the same time he felt a sense of relief wash over him. It was short lived and immediately replaced with guilt, but it showed him that he and Hannah breaking up was definitely for the better. At least in the long run. Even if they both felt crap about it at the moment.

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><p>Hannah entered the 7th year Slytherin Girls' dorm calling the attention of her two friends, who happened to be the only ones there. She didn't know how she'd gotten lucky enough that the bitchy Emma MacMillan and although nicer, still unwanted Carol Finnegan were not in their room.<p>

"Hey Han!" Layla's welcoming grin fell from her face the instant her eyes found Hannah's face. Meg glanced up from her book to give a greeting as well, but stopped.

"Han, what's wrong?" Both girls stood.

Hannah was attempting to force a smile, but was failing miserably.

"Alfie and I… we- we" Her forced smile fell from her face as she burst into tears. "broke up." The last two words were choked and difficult to make out, but Layla and Meg understood.

"What?" Meg responded in surprise. Hannah shrugged in response as she attempted to wipe the tears from her face. Her friends were at her side and pulling her into a hug in an instant. Hannah hugged back with such force that she nearly knocked the other two girls over.

"Are you okay?" Layla whispered with worry.

"I will be. It just hurts now and it sucks." She sniffed out. Meg squeezed the girl tighter.

"Do you want me to punch him or something?" She offered. Hannah laughed but shook her head.

"No, no." She reassured, giving a tearful smile. A real one this time. Even though Meg wouldn't have really punched Alfie and Hannah didn't want her to, it was still nice of her friend to suggest it as if it were a possibility. "He was nice about it. He didn't even bring it up, I did." Hannah explained to the other two.

"This calls for chocolate!" Meg announced with a grin. She ran to her trunk, threw it open and dug inside, finally emerging after a couple minutes, with a couple chocolate bars.

"I can't believe you've been hiding those from me!" Hannah shouted and ran at Meg, she tackled the taller girl to the ground in an attempt to steal all the chocolate.

"I wasn't hiding it from you, you prick. I was keeping it from MacMillan."

MacMillan was a known chocolate stealer and notorious liar when asked about said chocolate.

"Hand it over." Hannah grunted as she and Meg wrestled over the chocolate.

"Guys quit! I've got some too, we can all share. There's plenty." Layla should've expected her friends' reactions, but she'd thought she was helping keep the peace. How wrong she was.

"What? You've hid sweets from us!" The other two exclaimed together, jumping up off of the floor. Then together they surged forward and tackled Layla to the ground.

Layla let out a shriek as she toppled down with the other two on top of her. They were all giggling now and Hannah's tears were forgotten for the moment. Because that was the thing about best friends, they made even the greyest moments a whole lot brighter and the sad moments a lot more chocolatey.

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><p><strong>Please don't hate me for this chapter... I decided over the summer when I was reading Feed for summer reading that they were going to break up and I'm sorry! It had to happen, I've been dropping hints in the past few chapters.<strong>

**Anyways, please review! It means the world to me.**

**Kayla08: Thank you! That's really nice. I like Meg's character a lot, so it's cool that you think I've got some similarities with her. I've got to admit she's much more athletic and school-y then me though. haha**

**maggietheo: I'm glad! Emotionally invested is what I want ;)**

**SamanthaRenee: Thanks for reviewing! You're the best! **

**Hope you're all having a lovely week,**

**- Jenn -**


	35. Halloween and Moving On

**So I found out that I'm going to have not one college roommate, not two but three. Thats four girls in one dorm... Oh man. **

**Anyways here's the next chapter, ENJOY!**

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><p><em>Chapter 35: Halloween and Moving on<em>

On the morning of Halloween everyone in the school woke cautiously. Slytherins tiptoed out of their dorms and jumped at any slight noise. Hufflepuffs held hands and whispered with worried expressions. Ravenclaws had their wands at the ready. Even the teachers seemed nervous.

It was James Potter's last Halloween at Hogwarts, surely that meant that this year's prank would be the greatest, the grandest, and the largest.

The whole day people were suspicious of each other. Even the Gryffindors were anxious, after all they'd been pranked last year, now even they weren't safe.

By lunch people were bouncing in their seats. A couple students even looked green. The suspense was killing them.

When dinner came and still nothing had happened, everyone was holding their breath. Surely, it's happen now, at the feast. It made sense the feast was the best time. The easiest thing to wreak havoc during. But still nothing happened, even as the last yam was scraped into a student's mouth, even as desert appeared and disappeared. Still, nothing.

The students and teachers returned to their dorms, heads hanging. They felt almost… disappointed? Although most wouldn't admit it, Hogwarts looked forward to James Potter's Halloween prank every year. How could they not? It was one of the most exciting parts of Halloween.

Once he'd made every pumpkin decoration throughout the school explode during the feast. Everyone had ended up covered in pumpkin goo, it had been a great laugh.

Another time he'd charmed the mirrors to reflect ghoul faces back at anyone who looked in them. Everyone's hair was a mess all day and the girls who attempted to do their make-up without a mirror had looked quite silly.

Everyone slept fairly peacefully.

That is they slept peacefully until one in the morning when a loud alarm began to sound. People were jumping from their beds in seconds.

The alarm blared loudly, people tripped on blankets and each other as they attempted to rush into their common rooms.

The confusion was rumbling through all of Hogwarts. Students were mumbling and clapping hands over their ears wondering what was happening. The alarm stopped suddenly.

People slowly lowered their hands from their ears and looked around.

A disembodied voice spoke, "Good morning Hogwarts!" The voice seemed to boom from the ceilings and the walls. "I hope you're ready to party!"

When the words were cut off, music began playing. Houselves brought in large trays of foods and drinks to every common room and decorations around the common room became visible.

The students weren't all that disappointed or upset with James Potter's Halloween prank that year, even if he did wake them up early. The same can't be said for the teachers at Hogwarts.

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><p>James was ready to yank all of his hair out as he sat and stared at his mound of homework. It was early November and teachers were cramming in work before the Winter Holidays, although they were still over a month away. James found the surplus of work quite useless. He wanted to play quidditch professionally, why did it matter if he did good in school? But here he was, attempting to explain the difference between a Doxy, an imp, and a fairy. He let out a loud groan and allowed his head to thud hard against the table. He instantly wished he hadn't done that as his forehead was now quite sore.<p>

"Hey Jamie, you look… exhausted."

James knew it was Meg and allowed a tired smile to grace his face. Although she wasn't able to see it as his face was still squished into the table. She leaned down and kissed his cheek. He turned his face to be able to look at her.

"C'mon now, cheer up." She spoke, tugging on his hand. "We are going on an adventure."

James' smile grew into a grin. "An adventure?" He allowed Meg to pull him to his feet. "What kind of adventure?"

She shook her head in response. "It's a surprise silly."

The two walked through the halls until they made it to the statue of the one-eyed witch. Meg whispered "Dissendium", pointing her wand at the statue.

James followed her down the passage and into Honeydukes. The two were careful to slip into the store when no one was paying attention to the back rooms. They made their way through the store, grabbing some chocolates and treats to take back with them.

"That's a lot of chocolate." James glanced at the huge bag Meg was carrying over her shoulder. She laughed a little.

"Hannah cleaned out our supplies last month."

James frowned a little at that. "How's she holding up?"

Meg sighed, "She's doing a lot better. The time has been good for her." Meg explained and James nodded.

"Alfie has always been the put school work before everything else kind of guy. Just make sure she knows it's nothing personal."

Meg smiled at James words and bumped her body into his. He threw his arm around her waist and tugged her closer, relishing in the warmth at his side. She snuggled into him a bit closer in order to escape the bitter bite of the wind.

The two walked together through Hogsmeade, stopping at as many shops as possible. When they were carrying far too many bags they stopped at the Three Broomsticks for a drink and food, as they'd missed dinner at Hogwarts by now.

"Thanks for this." James told her. "I needed a break."

Meg nodded. "So did I, although you looked like you needed it more."

James responded slowly. "I'm not sure if I want to stay in school." Meg's eyes snapped up from her plate to his face and she waited for him to continue. "I want to be a professional quidditch player and learning which potions can turn someone into a frog or what plant can ensnare someone isn't going to help me in that."

James watched Meg carefully wondering how she'd respond. She stared at him for a few minutes, until she finally began to nod.

"Okay, if you've thought it through," Meg began. "James, I think you can do anything. You're great at quidditch."

James let out a sigh in relief. He'd been so worried that Meg would tell him he was stupid for wanting to quit school. James had thought it through over the past month. His Uncle George hadn't done his 7th year and now he had a successful business that was expanding across Europe. His dad never finished his 7th year, although he had the whole "defeated Voldemort" thing on his resume. James' mum had done professional quidditch, she'd loved it too. James wanted to do something he loved.

He leaned in and kissed Meg. When he pulled back he told her, "You're quite good at quidditch yourself".

Meg gave him a small smile."As much as I love quidditch, I don't want a professional career in it."

James nodded in his understanding. "Well, then you'll be the best mediwitch or healer or whatever else."

Meg leaned in and kissed James again.

Eventually, they had to make there way back to the school, it was dark after all and they had classes in the morning.

James returned to his room and thought about whether he should in fact stop going to Hogwarts. It had always been like a second home to him. He'd pulled so many pranks, received so many detentions, and met some of the best (and worst) people that he thought he may ever meet.

James fell asleep dreaming of soaring high on his broom with huge crowds cheering him on, chanting his name. And there in the middle of the crowd, the only face he could make out, was Meg.

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><p>It was a Hogsmeade weekend and Hannah was all alone. Meg was out with James on a date, even though they'd just had one three days ago. Layla was out with some of her other friends, she'd invited Hannah to join them, but Hannah wasn't much interested in being around a bunch of Ravenclaw girls that she didn't know and probably thought that they were all smarter than her just because they read more books. So there she was sitting alone in a small cafe in Hogsmeade, sipping a hot tea, eating a biscuit and flipping through a quidditch magazine. It was all very muggle of her she thought, you know if you didn't pay attention to "Quidditch Weekly" written in large print on the front of her magazine and the fact that the pictures were moving.<p>

She stopped on a page of Hunter Higgins, a beater for the Kenmare Kestrels. One page had a large picture of him while the other was an interview on his form and favorite moves.

"You like him?"

Hannah didn't bother looking up from the article. She was used to guys hitting on her in public, especially when she was wearing a v-neck shirt or a tank top. Today however she was wearing a thick, large sweater. But hey some guys only needed a pretty face.

"He's alright." She shrugged. "He's got a good backbeat, but he and Initch are terrible at the Dopplebeater. Doesn't seem they like each other much." She was hoping her bored tone and blunt opinions would chase the guy off. Often Hannah's bluntness had chased people off. Whether they were prospective boyfriends or girlfriends or just friends.

"Ah, so you're actually a quidditch fan, huh? Not just admiring how Higgins looks in his uniform."

The Irish accent was unmistakable as the man spoke again. Hannah had missed the accent the first time he'd spoken. She lifted her eyes and was shocked by the sight in front of her.

Hunter Higgins was smiling up at her from the magazine page and smiling down at her from real life. Hunter Higgins was standing in front of her in a small cafe.

The Hunter Higgins with pretty green eyes, a short buzz cut and so many muscles.

"I can know my quidditch terminology and still admire a guy's' attractiveness." She attempted to play cool. Hunter Higgins grinned down at her.

"You mind if I take a seat?"

"Please do." Hannah gestured across from her, in shock. He sat and held out a hand.

"I'm Hunter Higgins, and is it really that obvious that I can't stand Initch?"

Hannah smiled and shook his hand. "Hannah Belby, and that's like asking if a veela is pretty."

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><p><strong>Please please please review, it means the world to me.<strong>

**SamanthaRenee: We will see what's in their future :P I can assure you Alfie will be focusing on school only this year, but we will see if Hannah decides to get back into the dating game a bit later in the year.**

**Saphire5000: Thanks for such a nice review!**

**Hope you're all having a lovely week,**

**- Jenn -**


	36. Quidditch For Life

**I have to be up early to babysit from 8am until around 6:30 that night, yet here I am updating. You're welcome :P **

**Here's the next chapter, ENJOY!**

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><p><em>Chapter 36:Quidditch for Life<em>

Meg was debating whether she should grab her pillow and suffocate Hannah or herself. It was 11:59 the night before the Slytherin vs. Gryffindor game, the first game of the season and Hannah wouldn't let Meg sleep.

Hannah had been incredibly happy ever since the Hogsmeade weekend three weeks ago. She'd been getting Owls at least every other morning. She'd open a letter and began giggling instantly, then she'd rush off to write back to whoever had been sending her all the letters. Every Saturday she snuck from Hogwarts to meet the mystery person. Meg only knew that part because Hannah had asked for her help sneaking out the first time.

_"What makes you think I know how to get out of the school?" Meg had asked.  
><em>_"You are dating the James Potter." had been Hannah's clever response. At that Meg had rolled her eyes and agreed to help her friend sneak out. She'd had a good point._

Now, Hannah wouldn't shut up about how her "friend" was coming to the game the next morning and how she was incredibly excited by it.

"Hannah please shut up!" Meg exclaimed finally.

"Yes, Han, you're keeping us all awake." Layla said softly. "I'm exhausted."

Hannah sat up in her bed and looked over at her friends.

"I'm sorry guys, it's just… he's so cool and sweet and you're gonna love him."

"So it's a he?" Meg noted.

"I thought you were done with guys." Layla sighed out reluctantly. Hannah smiled at her friends.

"No, I'm done with boys that don't like me as much as I like them. As pretty as girls are, their are still some very pretty guys too." She winked at her friends, enlisting chuckles from them both.

"Well we are happy for you and your guy, but please let us sleep." Meg and Layla pleaded with their friend until she finally promised to remain quiet.

After then minutes of silence Layla and Meg were sure they were about to fall asleep.

"Did I tell you he sent me flowers this morning."

The two girls groaned in response.

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><p>Hannah was a bouncing ball of energy all morning, a large contrast to Layla and Meg who looked like they'd fall asleep at any minute.<p>

"She kept us awake all night talking about her new boyfriend." Meg told James with sleepy eyes.

"New boyfriend?" James handed Meg a coffee. She took a sip and hummed contentedly.

"Yes, he's older and coming to the match today."

James grinned, "Talking about the match today..."

Meg narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you have planned James Potter." He shrugged innocently in response.

"Nothing." He said, but he didn't sound all that truthful. James had been booking extra practices for his team and he'd been flying anytime he had free time and Meg didn't. He was confident that Gryffindor was going to win or atleast put up a really good fight.

James walked down with Meg to the field and they kissed before parting ways to get ready with their separate teams.

"Good luck sweetie, you're gonna need it!" Meg called over her shoulder.

"Ha! As if!" James shouted back with a large grin.

The Gryffindor and Slytherin teams took the field to loud cheers, roaring and hissing. It was a quite an interesting mix. James had missed the sound over the summer. He could play with his cousins and siblings in a makeshift field in their backyard, or even do pre-training team practices with the team before going back to school, but none of it compared to the real thing. The palpable energy coursing through the air, radiating off the crowd. The thrilling sound the bat and ball made as he connected them in the air.

He loved it all.

Slytherin started strong. Meg scored only a couple minutes after the whistle was blown.

"Roxy! Head in the game, c'mon!" James shouted to his cousin. She nodded at him and narrowed her eyes. The next attempts Slytherin made to score were blocked ferociously by Roxy. James grinned at his cousin for a moment and then returned his own brain back to the game.

James and the new beater that year, Jennings, had been practicing the Dopplebeater defense, a move used to double the speed of the bludger. The two had it nearly perfect. They swung and smacked the ball, it careened forward at a Slytherin player. The player fell from their broom, Madam Hooch slowing their descent with a flick of her wand. Miss Pomfrey rushed to the player and checked them over completely. She'd started insisting that she go to the Quidditch games that year to be on available for the inevitable injuries that the game caused. It helped that besides Meg there was a new wizard interning in the Hospital Wing that year.

James watched his teammates execute each move he'd been going over for the past few months, perfectly. They flew like they were connected and reading each other's minds. Roxy deflected the quaffle off her broom into Lorcan's arms. Lorcan passed to Ryan (one of the new chasers), who passed to Ming (the other new chaser), who then scored.

The game came to an end when Al caught the snitch. The stadium was filled with uproarious applause and cheering. Gryffindor players were storming the field and lifting Al onto their shoulders.

James was grinning and managed to grab Meg and envelop her in a hug. She gave him a light smack on the chest.

"Don't go gloating." She shouted over the crowd. James barely heard her as he put a fist in the air and let out an excited yell.

Meg eventually yanked James into a less crowded area, where Hannah and a tall man stood together. The man had short hair and a twinkle in his eyes. He was grinning as Hannah spoke with wild hand motions. James and Meg's jaws nearly dropped to the ground when they got a proper look at who Hannah was talking to.

When you loved Quidditch as much as they did, you tended to recognize one of the best beaters in the game at the time.

"Meg c'mere!" Hannah grabbed for her friend and yanked her over, James was pulled by Meg's hand in his like a chain of quidditch players until they all stood in front of him.

"This is Hunter Higgins. Hunter this is my best friend Meg Wood and her boyfriend James Potter."

Hunter offered a hand at the introductions. Meg quickly offered hers and then James instantly after.

"You-you're one of my favorite players." James stuttered out at him. Hunter grinned and clapped James on the shoulder.

"And you may have just become one of mine. Hannah mentioned you were looking into a professional career?"

James nodded in response and Hunter continued. "I brought a friend of mine, he's a scouting agent and he expressed some interest in you. Maybe you can replace my idiot teammate Initch. You seem like a much better beater." Hunter began to grumble.

Hannah giggled. "Come on. Lets go sit by the lake and snog."

Hunter grinned and gave a quick wave to James and Meg. "Nice meeting ya." He and Hannah left quickly.

James watched them leave in awe.

"Did he just… I?" James couldn't form complete words. Meg was grinning from ear to ear. She leaned up and kissed him.

"Excuse me." A voice interrupted their happy embrace. A short balding man with dark hair and a dark complexion was smiling at the two.

"I'm Henry Parsons, I look for potentially talented players. James Potter, you're the Gryffindor Captain, yes?"

James nodded with wide eyes. "Yes sir." He stuck out his hand to shake.

Mr. Parsons was smiling. "I don't always ask kids to come to training when they are still in school, but this year's line-up is looking sad. We need to start our training as soon as winter break ends. I'd like if you were there Mr. Potter." Mr. Parsons took a card from his pocket and handed it to James. "Think about this opportunity contact me if you've made the right decision." The balding man winked.

Mr. Parsons turned away from James and looked Meg up and down.

"What was your name again sweetheart? If I remember right you had a fairly good Finborough flick and you were a fairly impressive flyer."

Meg smiled but began to shake her head. "Thank you for the compliments Sir, but I've got other plans for my future."

Mr. Parsons shrugged. "Well if you change your mind let me know." He handed her a card as well.

The little man was off as fast as he'd appeared. He was so short that it was easy to lose him in the crowd.

"Did that really just happen?" James glanced over to Meg who just nodded.

"Yeah, I think it really did."

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><p><strong>Please please please review, it means the world to me.<strong>

**Kayla08: I love how excited you are! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I slipped some Hannah/Hunter cuteness in just for you**

**Sakurapetals0192: Fred is a great character, however he is a year older then James and therefore has graduated. I'll try to slip him in again soon though. Also just a reminder that Hermione is the only one of the "golden trio" who actually did their 7th year at Hogwarts and neither Fred or George finished either. I think the 7th year is sort of like college for us, people don't have to go, but it's kind of expected. If that makes sense?**

**Proly: Story is not finished yet! I'll change the status of it to "complete" when it is and it should show in the description. Welcome to the site!**

**NorthWest9: Glad you enjoyed! Thanks for the review!**

**SamanthaRenee17: Wow! Your quint roommate situation sounds crazy! Thanks for the reassurance. I'm more excited now as I've been chatting with the girls and they seem nice. Plus we get our own bathroom and that makes me very happy. I hope you have tons of fun in Australia! That sounds so cool. **

**Hope you're all having a lovely Summer**

**- Jenn -**


	37. Christmas, Decisions, and Snowballs

**Sorry this took so long guys! I'm a freshman in college so things have been a bit hectic. So far I'm loving college though! It's so fun and my classes are pretty great actually, a bit challenging, but in a good way. **

**Anyways here's the next chapter, ENJOY!**

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><p><em>Chapter 37: Christmas, Decisions, and Snowballs<em>

The Winter Holiday finally came. James had invited Meg home with him again, only to find out that Ginny had already invited her via owl and Meg had accepted. He wasn't sure whether he should be upset with his mother for meddling, or thankful that she'd given Meg enough time to convince her parents into allowing her to miss Christmas with them for the second year in a row. (She'd promised Easter to them again and joked about it being a new tradition).

Teddy and Fred stood at the platform waiting for them that year. James and Fred hugged and clapped each other hard on the back.

James felt like Hogwarts wasn't nearly as fun without Fred there. They had been a troublemaking duo and without him, James had barely had any pranking inspiration. It was crazy how much he missed his cousin, although he still got to see him on holidays. It was weird going from seeing someone everyday to seeing them only on special occasion. The thought that that was how it would become with a lot of people once he was done with Hogwarts was a bit frightening. Occasional visits and meet ups would surely be scheduled between his closest friends, but the other people he'd met would just fade away. There were plenty of people he was beginning to wish he'd been closer with. People in his classes that he'd talked to, but never really hung out with outside of that.

Fred grabbed his sister Roxy and waved goodbye to everyone. "See you all on Christmas." He called with a huge grin.

The others called back with "good byes" and "see you laters" and watched them go. Then off they all headed as well, following after Teddy. Everyone went through the process of attempting to fit trunks and then themselves all into the car. It was a huge and long struggle, but eventually it was a success.

"You know we could just apparate." James whispered to Meg.

"Where's the fun in that?" She whispered back.

"Plus Teddy's license would seem such a waste if it wasn't put to good use." Lily pointed out cheerfully. She was dragging Alice Longbottom behind her. She shoved Alice into the van that Teddy had rented for the ride back. Albus and Scorpius got in next. Then James and Alfie climbed in. Meg was given the passenger seat, while Teddy took the drivers. James was squished in the back row between Al and Alfie.

"Why am I the furthest from Meg." He complained loudly.

"Because you're obnoxious and she needs a break from you!" Lily responded without a beat. The others in the car chortled. Scorpius and Alice the loudest, from either side of Lily. She beamed at the two of them. The rest of the car ride Lily cracked jokes about her three brothers (she included Teddy as a brother) and much to her joy Scorpius and Alice were chortling at everything she said.

"Thank Merlin." James muttered as he jumped from the car the second it came to a stop at the Potter house.

Everyone clambered out of the car and then began the juggle of grabbing the correct luggage.

"Quite the crowd we've got this year." Ginny's voice called from the door of the house.

"Hullo mum." Lily, Albus, James and Teddy all chorused. Lily rushed to her mother and hugged her tightly, she then began talking as fast as she possibly could, attempting to get out her whole first semester of school in just a couple of minutes.

"Alright Lil, the rest of us would like to see mum too. You can finish later." James interrupted his sister good naturedly as he yanked his mother into a hug. The children all filed into the Potter house, dragging their trunks behind them.

Meg was bunking with Lily again and the only difference being they were a bit more crowded with an added Alice this year. James and Alfie were sharing and Teddy would join them on Christmas Eve, so that Ron and Hermione could take the guest room again and Rose and Hugo would be back in the living room. Since it was only for one night they never minded the sofa very much. In fact the Potter's had some fairly comfortable sofas after all.

The days leading up to Christmas weren't nearly as hectic as the previous year, since the Potter family didn't have to worry about decorations and feeding their huge family on Christmas day. That was George and Angelina's concern this year.

On Christmas eve James sat in his room thinking. There was a small almost party happening downstairs. His Aunt Hermione, Uncle Ron, and cousins had stopped by with cookies in tow. Victoire had brought Dom and Louis with her to visit Teddy. The adults were now enjoying some light drinking and chatting in the living room, while the kids played a game of exploding snaps in the dining room. They were all pretty tired from the quidditch match that they'd put on earlier. Playing quidditch just reminded James of the offer he'd gotten before break and he found himself sitting and brooding in his room.

A light knock startled him from his thoughts. "Come in." He called towards the door.

He expected either Meg or Alfie to be at the door. They would've noticed his absence and would be wondering why he'd insisted on locking himself in his room while everyone was having fun. James was usually the center of the fun after all. But when he turned around to reassure them he was fine, he saw his mum. She sat down on the end of his bed and watched him carefully. Her eyes narrowed as she scrutinized the small crease in between his eyebrows, the way he tossed a small ball up in the air to catch. (He'd gotten the ball from his Uncle Dudley one year for Christmas).

"What's going on?" Ginny intoned, her eyebrows raised as she waited for his response.

"Mum, you loved playing quidditch didn't you?"

Ginny nodded at James and waited for him to continue. He sighed again and debated how much he should tell his mum.

"I got an offer. They want me to go into the training season at the end of winter holiday. I'd be in the next drafting for teams, but if I wait until after I finish school I'd have to be in the training for a full year or if I was lucky I'd be put on a reserve team." James ran a hand through his hair, allowing the ball to fall in his lap. "I could be on a real team in just a couple of months if I take the opportunity."

Ginny watched her son for a moment. She reached forward and grabbed the hand in his lap. she held his hand and gave it a squeeze.

"You know you could still end up in reserve, even if you leave Hogwarts early. There's no guarantee." Ginny said the words with a gentle voice, she was trying to be realistic about the whole thing.

"I know, but I would've tried and I'd never be wondering what if I'd taken this opportunity for the rest of my life."

Ginny sighed. "It's up to you James. Your dad and I will support you no matter what. Just make sure you've thought everything through." With those words she rose from the bed and began to walk to the door.

She stopped in the doorway and turned to face him. "Love you kid." She gave a kind smile and left, closing the door with a soft click behind her.

James ran over to his desk and began pulling out a quill and some parchment. He'd thought about his decision and he knew what he was going to do. He began writing a letter to Mr. Parsons.

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><p>On Christmas day the whole Potter house was up by 5:45 am. They began opening gifts at 6:15, after wolfing down a breakfast made by Meg and Harry.<p>

By 7:30 they had opened their gifts and ran to get dressed for George and Angelina's. They reach George and Angelina's at 8:04. They had stood on the front step for less than a minute when they were suddenly being hurried into the house.

"Oi get in here. We've been waiting for ya." George swung the door opened and ushered everyone into the house.

Fred was waiting in the living room for James. He sprung to his feet and rushed over to his cousin. "Wait til you see what dad has planned this year. It's awesome, you're gonna-"

Fred was talking rapidly in a conspiratorial way to James, Alfie and Meg when he was cut off abruptly.

"Fred you better not be giving them any spoilers!" Roxy yelled loudly as she hip chucked herself into their little circle. Her wide grin and the twinkle in her eyes was mirrored in the rest of her family.

James groaned. "Aw, c'mon Roxy. Don't leave us hanging. I gotta know!" He whined a bit, only causing Roxy to roll her eyes at him.

"Get over it James. You never let me in on your secret pranks at school." She stuck out her tongue and then turned back to her brother. "Don't tell them, it's a surprise for a reason."

James waited until Roxy had walked out of earshot and turned to Fred. "Tell me please." He groaned in desperation. Fred simply shrugged and winked at them.

"You heard the lady. Secret it is."

Throughout the day James continued to beg Fred to let him in on the secret. The others laughed and rolled their eyes at him, but secretly hoped Fred would indeed indulge them with the secret.

At 5:05 the whole family was sat at the magically elongated dining table, beginning to dig into a wonderful Christmas dinner when suddenly there was a loud chiming from outside. The talking stopped abruptly and everyone glanced around at each other. George, Angelina, Roxy and Fred were all grinning. The noise continued, slowly swelling, getting louder. It was filtering in through the windows and it seemed to surround the whole house. Everyone jumped up from their seats and sprinted outside.

They ran to the huge pine tree that they'd seen in the backyard earlier. Previously the thing had just been a plain, large, pine tree. It towered over even the tallest Weasley boys. Now, the thing was glittering. Silver bells had appeared on the tree and they were emitting beautiful music, the ringing everyone had heard from inside. The tree slowly began to gain decorations, starting from the bottom and then up to the top. Glowing fairy lights floated into place, glittering tinsel strings wound their way up and around, globes depicting moving pictures of happy moments placed themselves on branches. Different ornaments flew into their places; s small broomstick zoomed around everyone and then landed on a branch, a little glass cat leapt up the tree until it found a comfortable place to perch, and an owl swooped around hooting. It was amazing to watch everything fall into place in a beautiful symphony of noises that no one could expect to sound good together, but somehow did anyways.

After everything had found its place the music and noises slowly faded away. Then it began to snow. The snow fell mainly on the tree, but it got those standing close by as well. The Weasley and Potter family stood and stared in amazement. They were quickly broken from there awed stupor as each of them was hit in the face with a snowball, seemingly out of nowhere. There were shrieks of surprise and startled laughter. Suddenly everyone was scooping snow, that had fallen the day before, up and packing it into balls. More shrieks and laughter occurred as a full blown snowball fight transpired.

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><p><strong>Please please please review, it means the world to me.<strong>

**SamanthaRenee17: Thanks I've worked very hard on my characters for this story. Probably the most out of any story I've posted. I understand about the reviewing situation, no worries! As always thanks you so much for your review! **

**Kayla08: Glad you liked that bit! Meg's mentioned a few times that she's interested in becoming a mediwitch or something along those lines. She's been interning with Miss Pomfrey. **

** The-Effulgent-One****:**** Thank you! Glad you like it.**

**LadyL13: More chapters are to come. When I'm finished I'll write "The End" or something that let's you know its actually finished. It's close to being done though. **

**Hope you're all having a lovely Fall**

**- Jenn -**


	38. Bittersweet

**So... First I want to apologize for the very long wait. It's been crazy as I'm in my first year of college and I was kind of focusing on classes and making friends. **

**Anyways enough with excuses, hope you enjoy this chapter!**

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><p>Chapter 38: Bittersweet<p>

James sat waiting in a small muggle cafe. It was quite cute and cozy and he wasn't surprised Meg had suggested meeting there. Everything about the place screamed Meg. There was a string of green and white lights along the walls, a candle at each table, and paintings decorating the walls. It was cute and had a homey feeling to it. The scent of coffee wafted through and filled James' nose entirely.

Meg was just finishing up in line and was glancing around for where James had sat. Her eyes met his and she grinned widely. She hurried over to their seats as best as she could with coffees in hand. She handed James his and warned him it was hot. He took a sip anyways and let out a hiss as it burned his tongue. Meg shook her head at him, laughing.

"How's your day been so far?" Meg asked as she blew on her coffee, before taking a sip herself. She didn't even wince as the heat met her tongue.

"Good. I've got some news." James leg was bouncing with excitement. Meg smiled hesitantly and grabbed his hand.

"What is it? Is it about try outs?"

James nodded, causing Meg to give his hand a squeeze and bite her lip. "Well go on then." She encouraged.

James smiled at her and took a deep breath. Meg was looking at him in a way he couldn't describe and James wanted to lean in and kiss her forever, but he knew he had to tell her first. They could kiss a bunch afterwards, after all. Maybe not for forever though, they would need air eventually and they would need to get back to their actual lives.

James was mostly fond of their actual lives, although he could think of a couple complaints. Not getting to see Meg 24/7 was at the top of that list. Meg was finishing up her year at Hogwarts and was currently on Easter holiday. She was eagerly awaiting a reply from a couple different wizarding hospitals where she'd applied for internships.

James on the other hand had been training for quidditch and had just had try outs not too long ago. Meaning he hadn't gone back to finish his last year at Hogwarts, and more importantly meaning that he and Meg were mostly long distance. Although they managed to meet up every Hogsmeade weekend, and many weekends that weren't too, they still missed each other greatly. Despite the fact that they constantly wrote each other and once a week one of them would floo their head to the other's fire place in order to see each other in person, or as in person as possible.

"I've gotten a couple offers from teams." James finally spits out.

"James that's amazing!" Meg squeals and bounces a bit in her seat.

"The Kenmare Kestrels want me as a new beater. Initch just left to play for the Falcons, so I'd be playing with Hunter."

Meg stood from the table and pulled James into an enthusiastic hug.

"Puddlemere also wants me, but I'd only be a reserve for them. But it's Puddlemere." James groaned and Meg just smiled. She grabbed for both of his hands, holding them tightly.

"James you want to play quidditch, not just watch it, right?" She asked. He nodded.

"Well of course, but-" He stopped himself. As much as he loved Puddlemere, Meg had a point. James wanted to play, not just sit and watch his team play, he could watch them play anytime really. So, he knew which team he was going to pick. As much as he loved Puddlemere, the Kestrels were going to be a better option for him. Plus, he'd already played with Hunter before and they seemed to work well together. At least better than Hunter and Initch had ever worked together. He and Hunter had dominated against Meg and Hannah for a majority of the game that they'd played a couple days ago at Meg's house. Hannah had claimed it was unfair as Hunter was a professional player, and that an infant would win as long as Hunter was on the team with him. James had rolled his eyes at her sentiment, but Hunter had appreciated it enough that he called a forfeit so that he and Hannah could go snog in the living room.

"I'll let them know my decision tonight." He told Meg. She grinned in response and gave him another large hug.

"I'm so proud of you!" She squeaked. James tightened his hold on her and kissed her hair, closing his eyes and enjoying just holding her, taking in her smell.

After what felt like not nearly long enough they stopped holding each other and sat back down to drink their coffee.

Meg jumped into some story about Hannah and Layla having a hilarious and ridiculous argument where one of them ended up with whip cream in her face and the other with green hair. James can only half listen as he watched Meg wave her hands about as she tells the story. He watched her lips pull into a smile and heard her emit laughter. He grins at that noise. He loves her laughter.

"Merlin, I love you." He interrupts her, but she doesn't seem all that upset about it.

"I love you too." She says with a slight bit of amusement. "Couldn't wait to tell me until I finished my story?" She jokes. James shakes his head and shrugs.

"Nah."

Meg leans over the table and kisses him briefly and then continues telling her story.

Their date ends much too quickly as James has to get to the Kestrels' practice that night if he wants to join the team. Meg has to get back to her part-time job at the ministry, in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, that she'd picked up for the holiday. They'd already stayed longer than her break really was, but luckily the cafe was very close by. He and Meg kiss for a long time before breaking apart.

"I'll see you in a couple days." She tells him.

"Definitely." He tells her and then because he can't help himself, he pulled her in for another kiss. This one is over a lot quicker.

"Love you." He told her as he held her hand. She attempted to walk away, but glanced back at him one last time.

"Love you." She says as her hand pulls from his and she sends him one last smile, before hurrying back to work.

James apparates back home to grab his things and get dressed and then headed to the Kestrels' practice. When he arrived with a pop, the first person to see him is Hunter. Hunter grinned widely and practically jumped on him. He engulfed James in a bear hug.

"We got Potter! Suck it Puddlemere!" He began shouting, causing the rest of the team to look at him. Some shook their heads and others chuckled fondly.

"You are here to join the team right?" Hunter whispered to James a bit prematurely. James nodded.

"Yeah, luckily." He commented. "After that reaction even if I hadn't been planning to originally I guess I'd have to, huh?"

Hunter nodded very seriously at James.

"C'mon, let's get you to coach."

As James followed Hunter through the crowd of Kestrel players, the team shouted their welcomes, the ones close enough even patted him on the back. James grinned as he realized, he was really part of a professional quidditch team, and they were excited to have him. This was his real life and he couldn't believe it.

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><p>Meg was at school and she was currently contemplating how much damage would occur if she jumped out the window of the Ancient Runes classroom. She probably wouldn't die, maybe break a few bones. Although, if she landed just right on her neck or back….<p>

"Miss Wood, are you ready to begin your classwork, or would you rather Ieave and come back when you're done daydreaming." Professor Acker was standing beside Meg's desk with pursed lips.

"Sorry Professor." Meg chimed and turned to her work. Everything was review lately as the N.E.W.T.S. were coming up and the professors were trying their hardest to prepare their students. Meg just wanted to get the stupid things over with and get to the part where she was graduating in all honesty.

Everything seemed to be harder to deal with especially since she rarely got to see James. Don't get her wrong, she loved Hannah, Layla, Lily, Albus, Scorpius and Alfie, but hanging out with them wasn't always what she needed. Sometimes she needed James to do something completely idiotic to distract her from everything else. She also just missed him in general. She missed his tendencies to just stop whatever he was doing suddenly and kiss her for no particular reason. She missed his ability to discuss quidditch with her at great lengths, like no one else would. She missed his jokes, his messy hair, and his goofy grins.

When class finally ended she went to lunch with Hannah. Her feet felt like they were dragging. Meg only felt like this some days, so she knew it'd pass. after all she would be in the Hospital wing in a couple hours and she loved helping out there. She just had to make it through class before she got to check Derek Hanes bandaged hand. He had a nasty bite from some creature in the Forbidden Forest, she was sure that she could properly diagnose it if she could look at it one more time.

"You missing yours as well?" Hannah asked as she saw Meg's slightly down face.

"Yeah." Meg sighed. "Stupid boys, off living their dreams and making money."

Hannah snorted loudly at that. "Tell me about it. I just want a couple nights alone with Hunter." Hannah winked at Meg. "If you know what I mean."

"How could anyone not know what you mean Han." Alfie had come and sat beside the girls at some point during their conversation. "I miss James too." He remarks at the end.

"I never thought I'd say this, but I miss my stupid brother too." Albus plops himself beside Alfie, while Scorpius places himself on the other side of him.

"Where's Layla?" Albus glances around the tables.

"Probably studying in the library with an apple and a croissant." Hannah remarks with a roll of her eyes. "She thinks that's enough to last her until dinner, but I assure you in no world is that enough food."

The others chuckle at that. Meg had to agree with Hannah though, so she pocketed a sandwich wrapped in a napkin that she'd give Layla in Transfig.

As they chatted and ate, Lily came to join them. She sat herself down beside Meg and across partially from her brother and partially from Scorpius. She gave Scorpius a large smile and began to talk to him quite rapidly. Meg smiled a bit at that, and considered making a remark about how the two should just date or kiss or something,as they'd been getting awfully close as of late. However, she was interrupted by an owl swooping down in front of her face at that moment. A letter drops into her lap and she quickly opens it up, curiously.

_Margaret Wood,_

_We are excited to inform you that you have been accepted into the vigorous internship program at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries this summer. You may begin on the morning of the 23rd of June at seven o'clock sharp. _

_Please send in a confirmation that you still plan on attending the program by the 16th. _

_Thank You,_

_Mannon Hartridge _

_Head of the Young Wizard and Witches for Magical Medicine Internship Program _

Meg couldn't speak, she just gaped at the letter.

"What's up? Meg?" Hannah waved her hand in front of Meg's face. "Hello, is everything alright?" Hannah's concern caused the rest of the group to stop talking and stare at Meg.

"I…." Meg just shook her head in disbelief and handed the letter over to Hannah, whose eyes raced across the words on the paper.

"Merlin!" She let out a loud squeal and jumped up. "You got in!"

Meg nodded and allowed for Hannah to yank her up as well. Something clicked in Meg's brain. "I got in. I got in!" She began chanting. Both girls began jumping up and down and squealing. At some point during their happy dance, Professor Longbottom had made his way down towards them.

"Ladies, I'm going to have to ask you to calm down. You are causing quite the disturbance." He was smiling when he said it, so they knew he wasn't too serious about it, but they still quit their high pitched noises and jumping about.

"Sorry Professor!" They chimed together.

"Meg got into the internship program at St. Mungo's." Hannah blurted out in explanation. The rest of their friends, who previously had been very confused, now jumped up from their seats.

"You what?" They shouted. Then they were all racing to Meg and yanking her into hug after hug as they shouted their congratulations.

After a couple minutes of loud celebration, Professor Longbottom cleared his throat. The rowdiness died down and the others turned to their Professor a bit sheepishly.

"Congratulations, Miss Woods." Professor Longbottom winked at her, before he walked away from them and exited the Great Hall.

Hannah let out another squeal and yanked Meg in for a tight hug.

"I can't believe it. I mean I knew you'd get it, you're you, but still. Ah!" Hannah jumped up and down a bit more.

Meg couldn't quite believe it herself in all honesty.

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><p>James had just gotten back to his newly rented apartment, one that Meg had helped him pick out over a couple weekends, and his eyes instantly landed on the owl perched on the dining room table. He opened the letter and saw hastily scribbled in all caps:<p>

_JAMIE,_

_I GOT IN! I'M INTERNING AT ST. MUNGO'S! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!? _

_FLOO ME!_

_LOTS OF LOVE,_

_MEG_

James chuckled at the obvious excitement that Meg must've been feeling when writing the letter to him. He ran to the fire place, only to find that her face was already looking back at him with a huge grin.

"I knew you'd get it!" He yelled out. She just laughed a bit at that.

"I wasn't sure if you'd read my letter before or after you saw my face." She told him.

"How long have you been waiting there?" He asked her, suddenly feeling bad that he probably kept her waiting. Practice had ended almost 40 minutes later than usual that day. James had just been so focused on perfecting the Dopplebeater with Hunter that he'd lost track of time. They'd successfully pulled it off a couple times before James decided it was good enough for that night.

"Only a couple minutes. I thought you'd want to take a shower after practice, so I was trying to give you enough time for that."

James grinned and knelt right beside Meg's face. "Sorry, Hunter and I stayed a bit later than everyone else."

Meg rolls her eyes fondly at him. "Of course you two did. Hannah's gonna kill him for being late to their Hogsmeade date tonight." She adds on.

"Oh, I didn't realize that was tonight." James frowned. "It's Friday already?"

Meg nodded and chuckled. "I take it you've been rather busy this week?" She asked mostly rhetorically.

"Yeah, it's been crazy. Our first game of the season is in a couple weeks so I've been working really hard. I don't want to mess it up." James was incredibly nervous for the first game of the season, because it would be his first professional game ever.

"Don't worry. You'll do great, the Kestrels have a great team this season. I heard they've recruited a new player that was one of the best beaters at tryouts this year." Meg winked at him.

"Yeah, what's his name? I wonder if I've met him?" James grinned as Meg giggled at what he'd said.

"I'm pretty sure you should know everyone on your team by now."

He shrugged in response.

"Alright enough of me, back to you." He crowed. "You got into St. Mungo's Intern program. Merlin, that's the most intense program out there isn't it?"

"One of them." Meg nodded. "I sent them my response already. I was so excited that I could barely sit through the rest of my classes." She told him.

"I'll bet." James nodded along as Meg continued talking. She quickly spewed out her words, beginning to relate her week to him and he listened very closely.

They talked back and forth for awhile before Meg stopped them at some point.

"It's getting pretty late." Meg sighed as she saw James yawn yet again.

"No, no. It's fine we don't have anything tomorrow. It's Saturday." He insisted, attempting and failing at hiding another yawn.

"Yeah, but practice has worn you out today. Go take a shower and then get some sleep."

James pouted. "Fine, mum." He muttered out.

"Go on, you stink." She told him.

"I don't!" James argued indignantly.

"You really do sweetie. Love you." Meg told him.

"I love you too. Sleep well." He told her, knowing very well Meg would be kept awake most of the night from her excitement.

"I'll try." She told him. Then her face was gone. James groaned and stared at the fire. He wanted nothing more than to hold Meg and cuddle with her as he fell asleep.

He made his way to the shower and turned it as hot as it would go so that it would loosen up his sore muscles.

All James could think about until his head hit the pillow, was Meg.

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><p>Meg glanced around her dorm one last time, not only checking for anything she might've missed when packing, but also reminiscing.<p>

She saw a bra strap peeking out from Hannah's bed and grabbed it for her, she added it to the bag of other things that Hannah had forgotten. That girl was always forgetting something, so much so that Meg had a whole bag of things Hannah had left behind. It was good that Meg was last to leave, otherwise those things may have remained there forever. She'd stayed behind a bit longer than everyone else so that she could say good bye to Miss Pomfrey. She'd already arranged for her mom and dad to meet her in Hogsmeade and help apparate her and her things home. It was always nicer to travel with someone.

"You got everything?" The voice shocked her, no one was supposed to be here and it was distinctly male. It caused her to jump a bit. She whirled around, whipping out her wand.

"James?" She was shocked to see her idiotic boyfriend leaning casually against the doorway. "What are you doing- I almost blew your face off!" She gestured to the wand in her hand. James shrugged and pushed himself off the wall.

"Thought I'd come help you with your stuff." James grabbed her trunk and shouldered one of her bags.

"My parents-"

"Are at work, I told them I'd get you. Don't worry I actually planned things out." James grinned, quite proud of himself.

"I guess there's a first for everything." Meg joked.

"Oi, Uncalled for!" James yelped in mock outrage. Meg smiled and was suddenly overcome with how much she'd missed the bloke. The Hannah bag fell from her hand as did her wand and she threw herself into James. Then she started crying.

James was so shocked that for a moment he didn't move. Then he released her trunk and wrapped his arms around her. He shooshed her and stroked her hair for a couple minutes.

"Why are you crying?" James asked worriedly. Meg sniffed into his shirt and held him tighter.

"It's all so…. It's just, I'm never coming back here. We are done forever and I've missed you so much and I just, everything's changing. So I'm happy, but I'm also sad. It's just so- bittersweet, I guess?" Her words poured from her mouth so quickly that she suspected it was hard for James to keep up with it all. Somehow he must've understood though.

"Yeah, it is, it really is." James remarked and tightened his hold on her. They stood like that for a while, engulfed in each other, saying nothing, but thinking of a lot of things.

Finally, James broke the silence. "Meg? I- uh. I wanted to ask you something…. It's part of the reason I offered to help with your stuff. You see, my apartment feels pretty empty, I'm used to the whole Potter clan living with me and then family and friends always coming in and out. So I was thinking- I mean that's not the only reason I was thinking about it, because I love you and well-" James was just babbling at this point so Meg thought she'd put him out of his misery. He would never be very good at this stuff she suspected. Even though he knew she loved him.

"If you're trying to ask me to move in James, I'd love that. I mean I love that apartment after all, and I guess you're pretty alright as well."

James let out a big breath of relief, but then scrunched his eyebrows together.

"Merlin, you're so mean to me, why did I want you to move in with me again?"

Meg let out a loud laugh at that. "I think you said you love me." She suggested thoughtfully.

"Ah, that's right." James grinned at her. "I guess I do. Damn."

Meg hit his chest playfully. "Alright, come here." She yanked him down into a kiss.

When they pulled away, Meg's eyes searched her dorm for the final time, this time purely to keep it in her memory, she'd already grabbed everything that had been left behind. She smiled sadly at her bed where she and Hannah and Layla had cuddled together whenever one of them had been sad. At her curtains that had a suspicious stain in the top left corner from that time that Hannah had chucked some nail polish at her a bit too enthusiastically. The bathroom where she'd held back Layla's hair as she puked in the toilet because she drank a little too much for her first time. The dresser with a chunk missing from it from that time the girls had been playing truth or dare with alcohol and things had gotten a little crazy.

"You ready to go home now?" James cut off her memories. Her eyes met his. He was watching her so adoringly that she couldn't help but grin. She picked up her stuff and grasped his hand.

"Yeah let's go home."

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><p><strong>I'm guessing you'll be wondering if this is the last chapter, and the answer is not quite. The next chapter will be the Epilogue, therefore the last chapter. <strong>

**Please leave a review!**

**Samantha Renee: Sorry I kept you waiting so long on this chapter! Hope Australia has been a lot of fun! **

**Nikkie995: Thanks for the review!**


	39. Epilogue

Epilogue:

Meg had just got home after her first day of actual work at St. Mungo's. Her first day as an actual medi-witch and not just a mere intern or trainee. She was tired, but in the best possible way. Meg was working on the fourth floor in Spell Damages as a medi-witch, basically her dream job. So she was excited and found herself almost wishing that she didn't have the next day, Sunday, off.

When she entered the apartment that she shared with James the first thing she noticed were flower petals all over the ground. She smiled a bit at that. She followed the trail of flowers to the bedroom where on the bed, was a note in James messy scrawl.

_Meg,_

_Change out of those hideous healer robes into something nice and meet me at our restaurant._

_Lots of love,_

_James_

Meg grinned at that. The lime green robes that were the uniform requirement at St. Mungo's were definitely not the prettiest things. Meg changed into one of her nice black dresses and strappy heels. The dress had a v-neck cut and was cinched at her waist, showing off her figure quite nicely. James had only seen her in it one other time, on their two year anniversary a couple of months a go, and he hadn't been able to keep his eyes off of her that whole day. Meg grabbed the necklace James had given her for Christmas in their 6th year at Hogwarts, the one with the silver snake with sapphire blue eyes, wrapped around the golden snitch, and placed it around her neck. Next she let down her hair and pointed her wand at it, her curls instantly went from drab and frizzy after being in a bun all day, to springy and shiny.

She glanced at herself in the mirror and deemed herself fit for the surprise date James had sprung on her. She had to walk outside of the apartment building to apparate as she and James lived in a wizarding apartment complex, with a protective anti-apparation charm.

The restaurant that James referred to as "their" restaurant was a small, lovely place that they'd discovered in the small town closest to their apartment. It was called La Rosa D'oro and it was a fancy, italian place owned by a little old lady and her husband. Meg had fallen in love with the couple and their food when she and James ate there the first time. The lady , Alma, always came out to chat with them and loved to tell them they were the cutest couple she'd ever seen. Which if the food already hadn't, would have made James want to come back. He loved hearing that he and Meg were a cute couple from anyone who said it, he loved telling people that he and Meg were the cutest couple too. His teammates often groaned anytime he mentioned Meg when he was first on the team. Then of course they'd come over for a party at the apartment, met Meg, and after deciding they liked her they told James he was allowed to mention her only 10 times a day. Meg found the whole thing amusing, but James insisted it was annoying as sometimes they would stop him from speaking because he'd already used his ten for the day.

Meg entered the small restaurant and smiled at the white clothed tables, each with a couple candles and a vase with a single flower in it. Flowers, Meg knew, that Alma had grown in her garden out back. She and her husband, Rafael, lived above the restaurant and had a small garden out back where they grew fresh vegetables and herbs for their food. The whole atmosphere of the place was cheery and calming.

There was no one else in the restaurant except James, sitting at their favorite table. It was rare for the restaurant to be empty as the food was so excellent it was hard for anyone to stay away long. Many locals came nightly as Alma made sure they ate healthy enough, but not too healthy, she'd assure them.

James was fidgeting in his seat so as Meg walked to him she sent him a supportive smile.

"Are you alright?" Meg asked him gently as she sat, she placed a hand on one of his. He nodded quickly.

"Of course." His free hand ran through his hair a bit aggressively. Meg watched the hand and her eyebrows lifted. James was incredibly nervous. She glanced around at the lack of customers and began to smile.

"This all looks lovely." She tells him. The food is already on the table at their places, James must've cast a warming charm on it, as Meg could still steam rising from it. Beside her favorite meal, that James had ordered her, was a glass of wine. She grabbed the glass and took a sip.

"I'm uh…. glad that you think so." His hand was in his hair again. Meg was trying hard not to laugh.

She started eating her food and then glanced up at James. "How was your day?" She asked casually. Under the table her leg was bouncing.

"Uh good. You look lovely, I meant to say it when you came in, I just…. wow. You look wow." Meg giggled at that.

"Thank you Jamie." She leaned over their plates and kissed him briefly.

James took a deep breath, which did seem to calm his nerves.

"The foods good?"

"Always."

James glanced down at his plate as if just remembering he too had food. He slowly ate some.

"How was the first day?" He asked her.

"Oh wonderful! James it was so amazing I actually got to help a couple patients without anyone having to be in the room with me. There was a man who'd been hit by a messed up jelly legs curse and that caused some weird burns on his legs and I was able to heal them completely."

James grinned proudly at Meg and grasped her hand. "I love you." He told her. She reciprocated.

"So uh…. you've probably noticed that there aren't any other customers here." James said as casually as he could muster.

"I did." Meg nodded.

"Right, well you're probably wondering why that is, or you already know, after all you're much too intelligent for your own good. Anyways, I uh, I asked Alma if she'd delay the official opening time tonight because I had something important to ask you." He paused and took a deep breath. One of his hands had gone into the inside pocket of the suave black dress robes he wore. Meg realized he looked quite handsome, she'd been so focused on everything else she hadn't noticed how dressed up he was. "Meg Wood I love you. Like a lot. Since the day we met you've driven me crazy and I can't imagine a day without you in it. I was wondering- well hoping I guess that uh…. well would you want to-"

Even though James words were stumbling out of his mouth his hand smoothly pulled a velvet box from his pocket and held it out. Meg felt tears of happiness in the corners of her eyes.

"Yes." She was nodding. "Yes you idiot I'll marry you."

James had opened the box now and revealed the ring. A silver intertwined band with a diamond that glinted in the candlelight, casting small rainbows on the table cloth.

"Couldn't even let me get out, honestly, so impatient." James shook his head as he slipped the ring onto Meg's finger.

"If I'd waited we'd have been here for another couple years and my guess is Alma would like to open the restaurant before then." She teased back.

"Meany." James could only pull off a fake pout for a second before glancing at Meg's hand and grinning widely.

He yanked her up and stood himself, pulling her to the side of the table and kissing her. she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down closer to her, successfully deepening the kiss. James made a slight noise against her lips, but yanked her up a little more into him.

The finally pulled apart after what seemed like hours.

"The guys are gonna hate me now." James said through his large smile.

"Why's that?" Meg asked in a breathless voice.

"I'll never shut up now that we're getting married." James shrugged as if it was obvious. Meg laughed loudly.

"They are definitely going to hate you." She nodded in agreement. "Hunter might kill you." She said thoughtfully.

"Hunter can't say anything, he's just as bad about Hannah, if not worse. I give them four months before they're engaged too." James rolled his eyes.

"More like two. I give Lily and Scorpius four though, and Al three years before he's even got a steady girlfriend." Meg ticked off their friends on her hand.

"No way Scorpius is not proposing to my sister when she's still in Hogwarts. He better wait another 20 years, but I suspect he'll only wait one year. Al will probably never get married honestly." James argued.

"Scorp's going to propose the second Lily graduates, guaranteed. They've been dating for two years now. And I think Al just needs to meet the right girl. You did." Meg says pointedly. James had after all had a bit of a reputation before he and Meg had even become friends, which felt like a long long time ago.

"I don't know. I'm pretty confident about this." James insisted, mostly jokingly.

"I'll bet you on it I'm so confident." Meg grinned up at James.

"Alright, put your money where your mouth is then." James pulled away enough from Meg that he could stick out his hand in between them.

"I can think of better uses for my mouth." Meg smirked as her hand slipped into his, shook it, and then used it to pull James into her. His lips found their way back on hers.

Five years later James still hated to admit how well Meg knew their friends. She'd been right on all her guesses. She had won every bet against James since they'd gotten together. Well all except one; James had known their first daughter would be a beautiful baby girl and he considered that wager to be a lot more important than any of the others. Meg claimed her getting it wrong was just a fluke as she knew the genders of the next couple babies.

"Whatever, you're just a sore loser." James claimed as he took a bite of a Christmas cookie that Ginny had sent a couple days a go.

"I've only lost once, you lose all the time, so look who's talking." Meg pointed out as she bounced baby William.

"I've never lost!" James claims very loudly and suddenly, waving his cookie dramatically through the air. Meg glanced at him and raised her eyebrows. "Because I married you, so I'm always winning." James explained with a smirk. Meg chuckled and rolled her eyes.

"Has anyone ever told you that you are ridiculously cheesy?" Meg inquired quite seriously.

"Only you." He grinned and leaned in to kiss her. When he pulled back he noticed his previously cookie filled hand was now empty. He watched as Meg stuffed the thing in her mouth and sent him a wink.

"You sneaky little thief." James remarked fondly.

End.

* * *

><p><strong>Since this is the end I'd really appreciate if you dropped a review before exiting out of this. Thanks to everyone who stuck with this story and favorited, followed, or reviewed. <strong>

**Lots of love to you guys,**

**Jenn **


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